OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Jim Shaw, R-Chandler, has filed a series of bills that range from placing a moratorium on green energy projects to creating setbacks to recapturing tax subsidies from the industry. Another measure would ban the use of biosolids.

"I told my constituents when running for office I would fight against the green energy insanity that has come to a peak during the Biden Administration," Shaw said. "The truth is many of the so-called green energy centers are massive consumers of energy, and they would completely destroy the economy of our great state."

For the upcoming legislative session, which starts Feb. 3, Shaw has filed:

House Bill 1450, which would place an indefinite moratorium on all new industrial wind and solar facilities, or the expansion of existing facilities.

"We already have too much intermittent and unreliable green energy in our portfolio – almost 50/50 wind versus natural gas," Shaw said. "We must pause to allow legislators to work with constituents on the best long-term path forward."

House Bill 1451 would establish setbacks for utility-scale solar farm facilities and would amend setbacks for wind energy facilities constructed after Nov. 1. 

Setbacks would include 1.5 nautical miles from the center line of a runway at a public-use or municipal-owned airport, from any public school, and from a hospital; and three miles from any nonparticipating property line.

Shaw said industrial wind already has 1.5 nautical mile setbacks from hospitals, schools and airports, so he is leaving that as-is, but he's including a fourth category for nonparticipating property lines. He's duplicating the categories and distances for industrial solar. Solar has no setbacks or regulations today.

House Bill 1452 would create the "Green Energy Subsidy Recapture Tax Act." Starting Oct. 1, all industrial wind and solar companies operating in Oklahoma will be assessed a tax equivalent to the federal subsidies they're receiving.

House Bill 1726 would immediately ban the use of biosolids as land applied fertilizer and calls for immediate studies to be conducted by the Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, with a report due by Dec. 1 on how best to handle biosolids going forward.