Wind turbines along I-70

According to a Lawrence Journal-World article this evening, the Kansas Supreme Court has moved to shut down wind turbines in the Kansas Flint Hills.

Whether or not wind power should be sought in Kansas is still up for debate. It is clear that wind power is unreliable and can not be used for base power. Further, wind power has been proven to be extremely expensive without government (taxpayer) subsidies.

But what can certainly be questioned is why wind power is such a wonderful thing for western Kansas but untouchable for eastern Kansas counties. Why are the Flint Hills exempt from wind turbines? I certainly agree the Flint Hills are beautiful. In fact, I would like to build a homestead there someday. But why is the state using taxpayer money to subsidize wind power in one part of the state and using it’s authority, vis-a-vis the Kansas Supreme Court, to block similar projects in another part of the state?

If wind power is such a wonder source of energy, why are we picking and choosing where we put it? If we’re truly in a global warming crisis, why aren’t groups like GPACE rushing to defend landowners rights to place wind turbines in the Flint Hills? Every bit helps, or at least that’s what we were told when the Holcomb project was fought tooth and nail. Or is this just another case of do as I say, not as I do from environmentalists?

The just released documentary Not Evil, Just Wrong highlighted a glaring problem with the environmental movement where they pick and choose what they want done with property that belongs to someone else. In the documentary, a very passionate environmentalist advocates keeping poverty stricken people in Africa in poverty rather than allowing industry and jobs to come to town. The environmental movement finds poverty ‘quaint’ and ‘homey’ while those living in it disagree strongly.

Is this the same logic that’s now being applied here in Kansas?

Ironically, if government (taxpayers) didn’t prop up wind power with unfair subsidies, there wouldn’t be a demand to place wind turbines in the Flint Hills in the first place.

As reported yesterday, nostimulus.com by American’s for Prosperity crashed due to the overwhelming traffic it received after a Fox News appearance by Tim Phillips, AFP President. The site was down for several hours yesterday but still racked up more than 100,000 signatures in just one day, according to an AFP press release today.

“There is growing citizen outrage against this spending nightmare and American citizens are not giving up,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. “In fact, taxpayers raised their voices louder, doubling the number of petitions in one day.”

If you haven’t already, go and sign the petition at nostimulus.com.

More close to home, you can also do you part for state economic development and lower energy costs by signing the Kansas Republican Assembly’s online petition to build the Sunflower Electric Power Plants in western Kansas. Today’s economic climate no longer allows us to play environmental roulette with our state’s energy policies.

Sign the petition and we’ll deliver this message to your Legislators:

“I encourage you to develop energy policies that are based on proven science to meet our growing need for electricity and allow our economy to grow, while preserving our quality of life in Kansas.”

Sign today!

That’s the call that is hopefully being sounded through the statehouse this legislative session.

The expansion of the Holcomb power plants was a dominate issue in last years session. As we’ve previously discussed, the failed veto override can be attributed to just one house vote.

Environmentalists and others are already lining up to prevent another attempt to get the plant built. The Wichita Eagle didn’t even wait for the November elections before publishing an anti-power editorial.

Kansans should press their legislative leaders not to refight last session’ s coal wars with Sebelius. Instead, the Legislature should join entities such as the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy advisory group and Kansas Energy Council in planning how to power Kansas cleanly and comprehensively long term.

The Wichita Eagle Editorial Board, Oct. 28, 2008

Many others have decided that the current budget crisis can be used to try to silence the power plant supporters. Never mind the nearly $5 billion in investment the expansion would bring to a state over $1 billion in the hole.

The fact is state spending and the plants can’t be separated. The budget crisis the state finds itself in only makes the expansion of Holcomb even more important than ever. KRA has posted an online petition to encourage our legislators to look again at the expansion project.

“I encourage you to develop energy policies that are based on proven science to meet our growing need for electricity and allow our economy to grow, while preserving our quality of life in Kansas.”

Follow the link to sign. Signatures collected will be submitted to your state Representative and Senator to let them know you support the nearly $5 billion in economic development the project would bring to the state.

Lower energy costs, a balanced budget. That’s something all Kansans can believe in.