Oklahoma's Own In Focus: Plans For Power Storage Facility Would Impact Hundreds Of Oklahoma Residents

Thousands of acres of private land and more than 500 homes are at stake with the proposal to build a hydroelectric storage facility along Oklahoma's Kiamichi River.

The project aims to generate power, store it, then send it to the electric grid during peak times.

Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation, a private company based out of Nevada, has been working for years to get a permit for the project through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The corporation has been denied a permit twice already, but a third request is now being considered.

Hundreds in the community are fighting against it.

“It’s part of a pattern here that’s been going on since statehood, where outside interests are coming into southeastern Oklahoma and taking our resources. Whether it’s timber, water, coal or other resources and bringing them to other areas,” Kiamichi River Legacy Alliance Board Member Seth Willyard said.

The Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation, many state lawmakers, and the Oklahoma Attorney General are opposed to the project.

The mountainous views stretch for miles in southeastern Oklahoma, with the pristine Kiamichi River flowing through.

“This segment here backing up to the Ouachita National Forest is the last remaining untouched segment of the Kiamichi River,” Willyard said.

This area of Pushmataha County, part of the Choctaw Nation Reservation and home to small towns like Tuskahoma and Albion, is largely undeveloped.

“It's peaceful. It's quiet. The air is clean. It's beautiful,” Willyard said. “And folks here are friendly.”

Willyard and his family fell in love with this place and built a cabin getaway in the late 90s. It’s where he planted his roots as an adult.

“I think if you spend a lot of time on a piece of land, you develop a deep connection with it and I don't want to lose that,” he said.

Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation's proposal for a "hydroelectric storage facility" along the river is threatening Willyard's land. It is also threatening more than 500 other properties and 35,000 acres, which would likely have to be taken through condemnation or eminent domain.

“I’ve not met a single landowner that is for this project,” Willyard said. “Because none of the benefits of this project are going to be for this area. We’re smart enough to know when you have an outside influence coming in like this, it’s not going to benefit the local community.”

The plan also calls for a 99-mile transmission line that would send all the electricity to Texas.

“It is destined for Paris, Texas to enter into the electric grid for Texas,” Ahndria Ablett said. “So really, this area, southeast Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation Reservation would bear 100 percent of the burdens, of the impacts from this plant, while an investment company and Texas would receive 100 percent of the benefits.

Ablett is Choctaw Nation's Water Resource Director.

“The Choctaw Nation is in absolute opposition of this hydropower plant,” she said. “We are very concerned about multiple things. We have historic archeological sites within the project boundary that are unassessed. We have great concern regarding water quantity within Kiamichi River.”

The project calls for some 22 billion gallons of water, which Ablett said the river cannot sustain.

And along with questions about what the project would do to the water quality, Ablett said the river is home to many threatened or endangered species.

“The Washita Pocketbook Mussel and several other mussel species. Shiners, darters. There’s quite a few endangered or threatened species within this area that would be greatly affected,” Ablett said.

“We know, based on the U.S. Department of Interior letter…this would be an extinction-level event for endangered mussel species on the river,” Willyard said.

Their plan is to keep standing strong to make sure that never happens.

“The Kiamichi River doesn’t have a voice of its own and we want to make sure and give her that voice,” Ablett said.

There are questions about Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation. Oklahoma Congressman Josh Brecheen, who opposes the project, said the company has ties to a person linked to the Chinese Communist Party.

The owner of SEOPC, Johann Tse, also has a private equity firm. Its website shows several board directors who are connected to China.

While Tse would not agree to an interview over the phone, he did respond to several questions via email.

He said nobody on his team has connections to the Chinese Communist Party and said China is not investing in the project in any way.

We also reached out to Attorney General Genter Drummond's office to find out if he's looking into Tse or his company. 

"As a general rule, however, we do not comment on, or confirm the existence of, a potentially active investigation," Director of Communications, Phil Bacharach said.

The federal government will decide whether the company gets a permit after a public comment period next month.

Johann Tse's responses to our questions are below.

Q: "Why did you choose the area along the Kiamichi River, far from any metropolitan area, for this project?"

A: Pumped storage projects need to have access to water to fill two reservoirs. One reservoir needs to be at a higher elevation and the lower reservoir needs to be as close as possible horizontally to the upper reservoir for maximum efficiency.

These elevational differences are seldom found in close proximity making it difficult to site pumped-storage facilities. The siting of this project near the Kiamichi River has both the vertical and horizontal requirements for the reservoirs.

Q: The project is to support the Texas electricity grid, why did you not choose a location in Texas?

A: The Project is to support both the Oklahoma and Texas electric grids.

Q: Do you have any prior experience building and operating a pumped storage hydropower plant?

A: I personally have development and financing experience with solar, wind, and hydro power plants in North America and Europe, and conducted due diligence on, and worked on financing of a pumped-storage project in California. Our head of engineering Fred Brown has worked at the Castaic Pumped-Storage Plant, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Moreover, we hire professional engineering, environmental, cultural, hydrology and geotechnical firms who have rich experience in handling pumped-storage projects in the US. We also hire attorneys who specialize in energy regulatory, pumped-storage and transmission matters.

Q: There has been great opposition to this project from landowners, stakeholders, tribal nations and state leaders, including Oklahoma Attorney General Getner Drummond. With the opposition, do you have any plans of withdrawing from the project.

A: The project is at a very early stage of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) process. We are in the scoping phase, collecting comments and feedback from the public and stakeholders. FERC will collect comments and feedback to incorporate into the scope of studies to be conducted in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations. We will follow FERC’s direction and comply with laws and regulations in conducting these studies. Once the studies are completed, FERC will determine the feasibility of the project and if it should proceed.

Q: Do you, your company or any investors own land within the project boundary area?

A: No, we will conduct the studies first, in accordance with the regulations and procedures.

Q: A document shows the project would need to acquire about 35,000 acres of privately owned land, impacting more than 500 residents, likely through condemnation or eminent domain. What is your response to that?

A: The initial FERC study area covers 500 homes and 35,000 acres in Oklahoma and Texas. The actual pumped storage site in Pushmataha County is only a small fraction of the initial study area. Based on current plans, only 40 – 50 parcels may be affected according to Pushmataha County records.

The majority of land in the FERC study area is related to right-of-way for transmission lines to Valient, Oklahoma, and then to Paris, Texas. The transmission lines’ right-of-way is included in the 500 homes and 35,000 acres quoted in the FERC filings.

Although the FERC license comes with eminent domain capacity, we think it will be very unlikely that it will be used, as negotiation is preferred.

Q: Oklahoma Congressman Josh Brecheen released a statement that SEOPC has ties to a person who is linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Is that true?

A: No, no body in our team has any link to the Chinese Communist Party.

Q: Your capital investment company, Aquarian Capital, shows you have a number of board members in China. Is China investing in this project in any way?

A: Aquarian Capital is a private advisory firm and none of its consultants are involved in the project except myself.

China is not investing in this project in any way. I am a proud American citizen with Chinese ancestry. I am using my background and expertise in clean energy to enhance the reliability of the Oklahoma electricity grid and to create jobs and promote economic prosperity for Americans. I have no ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and they are not involved in this project.

I am a dedicated supporter to charitable and community organizations in the US for decades. I co-founded the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce, served on the executive board of Boy Scouts of America’s Circle Ten Council that serves children in Texas and Oklahoma, and I am on the advisory board of the Salvation Army of

North Texas’ social service center which helps homeless veterans and victims of domestic abuse, in addition to supporting other civic and social causes important to my community at large.

Q: Why is Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation registered in Nevada and not Oklahoma?

A: The project company was registered by an attorney who picked Nevada as a domicile for registration due to that attorney’s preference.

Q: What would you like the public to know about this project?

Our pumped-storage facility will be a 24-hour “LONG” duration electricity storage, verses lithium-ion batteries which are 2-hour “short” duration electricity storage.

The Oklahoma electric grid needs both long and short duration electricity storages for grid reliability.

Two years ago, Winter Storm Uri caused the death of 246 Americans due to unreliable electricity grid without long duration storage. Our pumped-storage can help prevent such tragedy from happening again.

Renewable electricity generated by wind and solar needs long duration electricity storage to power Oklahoma homes when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. Pumped-storage is the most efficient and cost-effective electricity storage to meet the grid reliability needs of Oklahoma.

Grid security is a part of national security. The United States used to be number 1 in the world in terms of installed capacity of pumped-storages. There is a strong need for it right now, and developing it in compliance with laws and regulations is a way to secure our electric grids.