GREEN FOREST — Skepticism and concern have been growing over the past few years as many rural communities have faced rumors and attempts by “big business” to develop data centers, wind turbines, solar farms, and bitcoin mining operations in their communities. There is a growing unease among many citizens that this area has become the latest exploitable resource for corporate industrialization. With that comes the perceived threat of natural resource destruction at the cost of a local population left holding the bag.
The existence of wind turbines in Carroll County has likewise generated strong reactions, both inside and outside the county. To wit, residents of Carroll County played a large role in shaping Arkansas legislation through Act 945. That Act placed rules and regulations on what many felt was a gold rush on Ozark ridgelines and rural communities.
Initially, most Carroll County residents became aware of the plans for the Nimbus Wind Farm by accident. As it turned out, Scout Clean Energy, owner of Nimbus, had been conducting surveys, entering into leases with landowners, and drafting wildlife conservation plans with state agencies for years prior to public disclosure.
While there was no statutory requirement to make the project plans public, the cat was out of the bag, and Nimbus began hosting open houses in April 2023 to inform residents. By this point, however, most minds were already made up. Many residents felt that Scout Clean Energy had acted in a furtive manner, secretly laying the groundwork for the Nimbus project over several years.
There are logical reasons for Scout not to have publicly announced their plans. Keeping a project under wraps helps prevent competing developers from trying to secure the same properties and it keeps lease prices lower than if speculation occurs. However, many believe that the project was kept quiet to prevent an organized resistance.
Resistance quickly formed primarily through two groups: Stop Wind Farms Arkansas and Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks (CCO). The CCO claims its mission is to protect and preserve a way of life for future generations while maintaining a balance of rural, agri-friendly living with respectful tourism and development that respects the Ozarks.
The CCO has drawn significant attention to concerns that come with the development of the wind turbine facilities. Members like Carroll County residents Caroline Rogers and Richard Williams have traveled the state speaking at county quorum courts to sound the alarm. One of their main concerns is the effect of blasting and industrial operations on area aquifers. There are anecdotal reports of area wells with reduced water levels. They are also concerned that the reshaping of the Ozark ridgelines will be detrimental to the tourism industry.
Last week, Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders announced that 2025 saw a record 54.3 million visitors in the state. That was credited with generating $10.2 billion in visitor spending with a total economic impact of $17.4 billion. The CCO believes that the elements that make the Ozarks a tourist attraction, namely its rugged beauty, are destroyed by the construction of turbines. The rapid appearance of 700-foot turbines on rugged ridgelines appears to contradict Sanders’ 2023 Natural State Initiative, meant to capitalize on what she calls Arkansas’ greatest competitive advantage: in a nutshell, nature.
Though the CCO has been characterized by critics under the rather simplified moniker of “anti-wind,” the group appears to be more postured as anti-rapid industrial development. Williams has stated that the group is bipartisan and is not inherently anti-wind. Williams believes that there are places where wind energy works best for everyone, pointing to projects in west Texas as an example. There, he says, the low population density and lack of an affected water source make it ideal.
He also pushes back against claims that the CCO is trying to advance a pro-Trump agenda. The group is bipartisan and only interested in the people who may suffer the negative consequences of turbine development, Williams believes.
Despite significant public demand that the county do something to stop the project, the Carroll County quorum court, for the most part, chose not to get involved, citing fear of lawsuits and respect for individuals’ property rights.
Counties considering moratoriums on wind turbine development have all grappled with the rights of property owners with the overall effects, real or theoretical, that such construction has on a community as a whole. Initial resistance to blocking development hinged on that issue in many places. Especially in rural counties, residents have long resisted impingements upon their ability to use their land as they see fit.
What are the long-term effects of wind turbines in rural Arkansas? With the stipulation that more studies are needed, the University of Arkansas Extension Office released a report in September of last year describing its findings.
In summary, the study (Economic Impacts of Utility-scale Wind Turbines: What Rural Arkansas Counties Need to Know) found that wind development increased county GDP by 4% and raised farmland values between 7-8%. In contrast, it caused personal incomes to fall by 0.5-0.8%, created employment declines of 1%, contributed to a population decline of 0.7-0.8%, and saw residential home values fall by 1-1.5%.
While counties with wind turbines saw an increase in GDP, the study notes that the increase in value necessarily goes to the wind energy company and not the local community. It stipulates that siting restrictions and zoning ordinances have been shown to soften the downsides of wind energy development while preserving the benefits.
The major exceptions to the county’s inaction were Judge David Writer’s signing of a Road Use Agreement (RUA) with Nimbus in September 2024 and the quorum court’s enactment of a wind-and-solar moratorium in May 2025.
In a June 2024 statement, Judge Writer said he intended to enter into the RUA to let citizens off the hook for the inevitable damage to roads construction of the turbines would cause. The RUA would require Scout Clean Energy to repair roads that were damaged in the process, backed by a bond.
The May 2025 moratorium placed a five-year ban on any commercial wind and solar energy facilities to allow the quorum court to “consider adopting appropriate regulations.” Notably, the Nimbus Wind Farm was exempt from this ordinance.
The county’s moratorium came a month after the state passed Act 945. Authored by attorney George Caudle and outspoken critic of the project Julie Morton, the law provided a framework of rules and regulations to govern wind energy development in the state. That framework would be clarified in December 2025 when the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) held hearings that helped codify many of the uncertainties surrounding the law.
In June of this year, the state legislative council approved the rules established by the APSC.
The law requires a state permit for anyone building, operating or expanding commercial wind energy facilities that generate more than 5 megawatts of electricity and are over 200 feet tall. It allows local governments to enforce their own regulations, provided the local standards are at least as restrictive as those in Act 945.
Under the law, permit applicants must provide written notice of proposed projects to landowners within a specified distance of the project. Following that, public hearings are required.
The Act establishes a minimum property line setback requirement of the greater of 3.5x the tower’s height or 2,500 ft. It also requires that any turbine be at least one mile away from schools, churches, hospitals, parks, airports, etc. The Act also establishes a noise limit.
Relevant studies must be conducted to gauge environmental impacts, economic effects, fire hazards and other related topics.
Developers, according to the Act, must provide financial security sufficient to cover the entire cost of decommissioning a wind facility at its end of life while complying with established removal standards. Turbines failing to provide energy for 180 days also fall into this category.
Projects considered “under development” as of April 9, 2025, are exempt from these regulations. The category of “under development” means land leases have been executed, required studies are ongoing or construction has started.
The Nimbus Wind Farm, if started today, would find itself in violation of the Act. However, because it was under development prior to April 2025, and despite playing a large role in being the catalyst for the Act, Nimbus gets a pass.
In the next part of this coverage, the Times will look deeper into the wind energy lease and easement agreements between Nimbus and the landowners in Carroll County.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Harrison Daily Times.