Oklahoma farmers and green energy: A growing tension

March 20, 2025 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting

In Oklahoma, farmers are leading the ‘green energy’ rebellion

Wind and solar energy are big business in Oklahoma and it’s only getting bigger.

But some farmers are fighting back.

In this week’s feature story, Juan Vassallo investigated the plans for more than 50 battery storage plants across the state and the environmental and safety risks that come with them.

These plants, which often store power from nearby wind and solar farms, have caught on fire in other states. The fires have caused health problems in nearby residents and elevated levels of toxic metals in the soil.

Juan’s story explores how farmers are fighting back with lawsuits and lobbying for increased regulations on renewable energy projects.

“We’re tired of being the guinea pigs for green energy corporations,” said NeAnne Clinton, president of the Garfield County Conservation Coalition, which opposes a planned solar farm and battery storage plant.

However, the companies behind these projects are spending thousands of dollars to lobby state lawmakers and regulators.

While this story focuses on Oklahoma, it touches on an intensifying debate across the country as renewable energy efforts continue to grow.

You can read Juan’s story here.

— Ben Felder, editor in chief

Iowa’s polluted waterways rarely see improvement, yet lawmakers remain resistant to regulating industrial ag
By Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest/Report for America

More than four years ago, Terry Skahill bought land along the banks of the Yellow River in Allamakee County, Iowa, a place he had visited for decades to camp and kayak. But the retired electrician said he’s since witnessed the river transform. Its banks have widened due to flooding, and its water quality has declined sometimes to the point where kayaking on the river has become impossible.

“Terrible, terrible. It stunk so bad,” Skahill, 70, told Investigate Midwest last June, referring to a particularly polluted day for his stretch of the river in northeast Iowa. “And obviously, it’s coming out of all the feedlots, into the little streams, and whatever. And of course, they had just put all the fertilizer on the fields, and the fields weren’t yet growing. So there it is, right down the river.”

Pollution from industrial agriculture is one of the main contributors to the impairment of hundreds of river and lake segments across Iowa. As a result, many bodies of water fail to meet federal and state quality standards for drinking, swimming or fishing.

While some water segments have recovered over time, most remain impaired.

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**GRAPHIC: Food inflation eased in 2024, but Trump’s tariffs loom** By Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest

Consumers saw a reprieve from fast-rising food prices in 2024, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis.

Last year, prices for all food increased by 2.3% — a stark contrast to the 5.8% jump in 2023, which far outpaced the historical average over the past two decades.

However, not all grocery staples followed the trend.

View the chart here.

OPINION: GOP owns tariff war pain inflicted on US farmers
ByDave Dickey, Columnist

Here’s a public service announcement to American farmers, particularly those living in GOP-controlled congressional districts: Whatever damages tariffs do to your farming bottom line going forward, you can absolutely, unequivocally, lay blame at the clay feet of the GOP.

It has become almost impossible to keep up with the tit for tat, on again-off again tariff war started by the U.S. against a host of nations including Mexico, Canada, Columbia, the European Union, and China.

But farmers and ranchers are well aware that American agriculture often bears much of the brunt of trade penalties, a lesson learned during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House to the tune of an estimated $27 billion in lost exports. Seeking re-election, POTUS handed out billions of dollars in subsidies aimed at offsetting those trade-war losses. That cash didn’t make all farmers fiscally whole.

Now Trump is at it again, increasing tariffs on most all China exports to around 30%. Predictably, China responded with tariffs of its own targeting among other products U.S. chicken, pork, wheat, corn, soybeans, beef, and fruit.