‘We’re ready for the fight’: Southeast Oklahomans push back on proposed hydropower project

The morning of August 9th was a hectic one at Talihina Junior High in Southeast Oklahoma, even though the school year hadn’t started yet. The auditorium was packed with community members waiting for a turn to share their thoughts on a proposed hydropower project.

Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation, an energy company, wants to create two reservoirs just south of Talihina on the Kiamichi River. They’d sit right next to each other, but one would be at a higher elevation than the other.

Together, these reservoirs would act like a giant battery. When the sun is beaming down on solar panels and wind turbines are twirling, they often generate more power than people need. That extra electricity could be used to pump water into the upper reservoir.

Electricity demand peaks in the evening, when the sun isn’t overhead. And the wind isn’t always blowing. But stored water could be released from the upper reservoir, generating electricity to close that gap between supply and demand.

In the proposed Pushmataha Project, those reservoirs would be filled with water from the Kiamichi River. But once filled, they’d form a closed loop, where the water could be pumped uphill, released downhill, and then pumped uphill again.

The hydropower from the Kiamichi reservoirs would be sent to a substation in Paris, Texas. Then it would enter Texas’s electric grid or the Southwest Power Pool — that’s the multistate electric grid Oklahoma is part of. Project leaders said both grids would contribute extra power to the system, and both grids would use the stored power based on need.

In Talihina, Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation leaders briefly spoke to residents in the auditorium, using a video from the U.S. Department of Energy to explain what they’re trying to do.

The video illustrates pumped storage hydropower with charming hand-drawn diagrams on a whiteboard. But those reservoirs wouldn’t be floating on a white background in real life. They’d sit on top of land that belongs to Oklahomans — and most of them are not happy about it.

Locals say project would have wide consequences for the community

Alan Kight Jr., 42, has lived near the Kiamichi River his whole life.

“My grandpa was the one who bought the property when my dad was five,” Kight said. “That was in 1960, and our family’s lived here ever since.”

Kight is one of more than 500 people who own property within the project’s study area. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will all be purchased via eminent domain and flooded. But at least some of it will be if the project is approved.

“We’ve not seen a clear enough map to know exactly where it’s going, but even if it doesn’t take our property, the burden of it still affects all of us,” Kight said.

Kight isn’t just an affected resident — he’s also the Pushmataha County Rural Water District #2 manager.

He says a quarter of the district’s meters are within the study area. Losing those customers would mean upping everybody else’s water rates to keep the district operational.

“We have taken out a big loan to upgrade our water district, and the meters that will be lost will put a burden over on the existing customers that would be left,” Kight said. “It’s not fair to our customers to have to be burdened over somebody else’s project.”

Kight shared his thoughts with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which oversees the approval process for projects like this. Hundreds of other residents put in their opinions, too.

Choctaw Nation leads opposition to project

Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton says it’s not enough for FERC to document the public’s disapproval.

“This FERC process is not very transparent at all,” Batton said. “You should be able to have dialogue as true consultation — they are required to consult with us. This is not the consultation.”

The land in question is within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation. Many affected people are Choctaws, including Kight and more than half of his water district’s customers.

“From a cultural perspective, if we lose our way of life, we lose our culture,” Batton said. “This would drastically change the way we live here. And then, of course, the environment — there are endangered species along the Kiamichi River that this would impact.”

The project could affect ten federally listed endangered or threatened species, according to a letter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote to FERC. Most of those are bats and freshwater mussels. The letter said the project would affect five additional species under consideration for federal listing.

Batton grew up in the area and lives just a quarter mile from the Kiamichi River. He says the whole thing smacks of forced removal.

“We as tribes know what it’s like to lose our homeland, and so we don’t want that to happen again,” he said. “Sure, times have changed. We’ve got new neighbors, new friends. But as a family, we’re going to stay unified. We’re going to fight this.”

First, Batton says he’ll oppose the FERC process for not meeting consultation requirements. The Choctaw Nation may involve the U.S. Department of the Interior, which acts as a trustee of the tribe according to their 1831 removal treaty.

Batton said the Choctaw Nation will take legal action if necessary.

“If we go to court, who knows, but we’re in the battle for 20, 30 years,” he said. “And if that’s what we have to do, we’re ready for the fight.”

Both the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations have written letters to FERC opposing the project. In addition to protecting their citizens and the environment, both tribes seek to enforce their water rights.

The Chickasaw and Choctaw governments are part of an agreement to sell water from Sardis Lake (part of the Kiamichi Basin) to Oklahoma City. The tribes, Oklahoma City, the state of Oklahoma and the federal government all signed onto that agreement.

“In that settlement agreement, it said the lake levels would stay a certain level that we’d have certain stream flows,” Batton said. “If it impacts that, it’s going to violate the water Settlement Agreement. . . It’d be a violation of federal law.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond wrote a letter to FERC urging them to deny the project application.

“I will not tolerate violation of Oklahoma law or flagrant disregard for the sovereignty or federal law, protected rights of a tribal nation and similarly situated property owners,” Drummond wrote.

Sen. George Burns and Rep. Justin Humphrey, who represent the area in the Oklahoma legislature, have also expressed opposition to the project.

Project developers emphasize need for power storage

The people behind the project — Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation president Johann Tse and civil engineer Fred Brown — wouldn’t speak on the record. But, the pair agreed to answer questions over email.

They say the public pushback hasn’t changed how they approach the project and are confident it will come to fruition.

They explained why this site was selected for the pumped storage hydropower project.

“An efficient pumped-storage facility needs the water reservoirs to be vertically far from each other and horizontally close to each other,” Tse wrote. “The site selected has such a feature, which is not found elsewhere.”

Tse wrote storing extra energy from wind farms means fewer might need to be built in the long run.

Tse also emphasized that the power storage would benefit area residents directly, because some of the power will go back onto the Southwest Power Pool’s grid, which includes all of Oklahoma.

“If people keep an open mind, the benefits of the project become clear,” Tse wrote.

Tse pointed out that FERC has received at least two positive comments from local builders who see the project as a way to generate well-paying jobs in the area. However, most people who have submitted feedback to FERC don’t see it that way.

Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation had false starts on this project in 2018 and earlier this year. Batton said the Choctaw Nation has been fighting similar projects since the 1980s.

Kight expressed frustration with how long the community has been playing Whac-A-Mole with hydropower projects.

“It’s been a fight for years for this area,” Kight said. “We’re small, everybody wants what we have, and we’d just soon be left alone. Leave southeastern Oklahoma alone.”

This article was originally published by KOSU.