Walters said in a press release statement that he opposes the “disruptive expansion of so-called green energy projects.”
He says Oklahoma’s expansion into renewable energy was supposed to help fund students and schools but hasn’t in any meaningful way.
When green energy companies move into rural areas and build wind turbines, solar farms and hydroelectric storage facilities, they pay ad valorem taxes on the property they buy for those projects to the county jurisdiction that property is in. That money then goes to public school districts with very little property tax revenue in mostly rural areas.
However, locals and green energy companies hoping to develop on or near their land don’t always see things the same way, whether it comes to the valuations of properties slated for development or preserving some of the state’s natural resources and tourism hotspots.
And that means the money that should be going to students sometimes gets caught in a complicated and time-consuming legal muck.
Walters says Governor Stitt is showing “preferential treatment” to the Danish company European Energy North America over vital business interests and the property rights of Oklahomans.
Stitt’s spokesperson Abegail Cave said the agreements are not legally binding.
“They are just agreements for the state of Oklahoma and the country of Denmark to cooperate,” Cave said. “This is a good thing.”
There are two Memorandums of Understanding the governor signed on Monday, one with Danish Ambassador Jesper Meller Serensen and the other with EE North America, the green energy company mentioned by Walters.
“Oklahoma and Denmark will focus on advancing and developing affordable and reliable energy to strengthen local industries and drive long-term economic prosperity,” reads the first memorandum.
The second has a similar objective but specifies that while EE North America’s focus is on renewable energy, Oklahoma remains committed to an “all-of-the-above energy mix.”
Partnering with global experts, the memo reads, is part of realizing that vision.
Cave said the memos are expressions by the Governor and existing global partners of their intent to produce more energy in Oklahoma, by Oklahomans, for export to Denmark and other allied nations.
She says there were no contracts signed. Nor are potential future projects limited to renewable forms of production.
