Oklahoma is the number two producer of wind energy in the United States.
Yet,as The Christian Science Monitor reports, the Sooner State has recently soured on this form of renewable energy.
Due to the state’s crippling budget woes, in addition to pressure from the state’s powerful oil and gas lobby, Oklahoma has been phasing out the key tax incentives that had, in large part, been responsible for the booming wind industry in the state.
Wind advocates are crying foul, claiming that the reduction in tax breaks can be blamed on influential oil magnates like Harold Hamm, who is a staunch ally of President Trump and EPA chief Scott Pruitt.
But Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs, insists the move away from tax incentives is merely a function of free-market economics.
Regardless, Oklahoma’s status as the number two wind producer may soon be in jeopardy.