With ever more spiky wind turbines cropping up across its open lands, Oklahoma has just become the No. 2 state in the country for wind energy production, the American Wind Energy Association announced Tuesday. That has been a boon for local communities, but it has also come at a price for the state, which pays tens of millions of dollars a year in subsidies for wind companies. As the industry grows, so does the price tag for wind incentives.

A huge new proposed wind farm called Wind Catcher kicked off the controversy in the Sooner State. The increased scrutiny caused by the project led to a greater realization of the true costs of Big Wind’s subsidies. There’s even talk of taxing wind farms now.

The Wind Catcher case comes amid a pushback on wind incentives, galvanized by a state budget crisis and influential oil and gas interests. In the past year, Oklahoma has ended two key incentives that even wind proponents admitted were in some ways “too generous.”

“I’m hopeful that the current balance that we’ve struck between local taxation and making sure that we’re not penalizing a new technology – I’m hopeful that that balance stays in place,” says state Sen. AJ Griffin (R) of Guthrie, who says she encourages investment in wind “without giving away the farm.”

As so often turns out to be the case, the utility has cut corners to cash in on federal subsidies set to sunset eventually. At the same time, the utility want state regulators to approve a rate increase to underwrite the project that it claims customers will recoup once built. But some state officials aren’t buying Big Wind’s sales pitch anymore.