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Senate committee approves Wind Energy Development Act after back-and-forth over Ozarks protections and grandfathering

3091482 · April 3, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Senate Bill 437, the Wind Energy Development Act, passed the committee after sponsors added exemptions for projects already under construction and a geographic exemption for areas below 300 feet above sea level; developers said the bill, as drafted before amendment, would have amounted to a near-ban of wind projects.

The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee approved Senate Bill 437, known in testimony as the Wind Energy Development Act, after sponsor Sen. Bart Hester added amendments intended to exempt projects already under construction and to exclude areas below 300 feet above sea level from the bill’s stricter restrictions.

Why it matters: The bill would have placed extensive setbacks, environmental review requirements and other restrictions on new wind projects. Opponents,…

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