Osage Wind Farm Damages Trial Begins

A federal judge is hearing testimony over damages due the Osage Mineral Council in the long-running dispute over construction of the Osage Wind Farm. The same judge has already ordered Enel Energy to remove the wind farm, and pay damages to the Council, on behalf of the individual headright owners who have so far received nothing.

Construction started in 2014 over the objections of the Osage Nation, the Minerals Council, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Minerals Council requires permits for any substantial excavation into its mineral estate.

Osage Wind, near Burbank, consists of 84 turbines over about 8,000 acres. Six landowners leased land for the project, but the subsurface rights were not leased.

Testimony from the trial was that each turbine required a hole 10 feet deep and 52 feet across, and the buried lines for the project involved trenching 33 miles.

Experts testifying on behalf of the US Government, which holds the minerals in Trust for the Nation, determined the damage to the land was about $31 million, and the royalty value of the rock was $242,000. Punitive damages could also be assessed in the non-jury trial.

The same judge has already ruled that Enel built the project illegally, but the original verdict is being appealed. The damages trial is expected to last two weeks.

Enel sent the following statement in January:

"Osage Wind never intended to mine minerals owned by the Osage Nation nor impose on their sovereignty and acted in the genuine belief that its actions were consistent with applicable legal requirements. Osage Wind operates to the benefit of the local community. It provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for Osage area schools every year. Furthermore, farmers, ranchers and other Osage Wind landowners benefit from the rents accrued by leasing their private property as part of the project, and the region benefits from clean, renewable power for 50,000 homes."