Small Town News

Wabaunsee County spends decade wrestling with green energy

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The mention of the phrase "green energy" brings to mind a bright green field, clear blue sky and wind turbines slowly spinning on the horizon.

While numerous other power sources also fall under the "green energy" heading, wind turbines are most common poster child in a world looking for sustainable energy sources.

Wabaunsee County's experience with sustainable energy has been anything but tranquil, and has included meetings full of people passionately defending the pros and cons of bringing Commercial Wind Energy Conversion Systems to the Flint Hills.

The status of wind turbines in Wabaunsee County has been in litigation since 2004 and is waiting for another round or oral arguments in January and a decision by the Kansas Supreme Court.

According to Wikipedia.org, an online encyclopedia edited by users, "Sustainable energy is the provision of energy such that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."

Sustainable energy sources have been developed as global development depletes fossil fuels and traditional energy sources at a faster and faster rate.

The possible impact of carbon emissions from burning gasoline, coal and other traditional sources also have environmentalists pushing for new methods of creating energy for all aspects of life, including powering and heating homes and offices and propelling us to our destinations.

Wikipedia.org said sustainable energy may be defined differently depending on who you ask, but ultimately has the same end goal.

"A broader interpretation may allow inclusion of fossil fuels and nuclear fission as transitional sources while technology develops, as long as new sources are developed for future generations to use. A narrower interpretation includes only energy sources which are not expected to be depleted in a time frame relevant to the human race.

"Sustainable energy sources are most often regarded as including all renewable sources, such as biofuels, solar power, wind power, wave power, geothermal power and tidal power."

While Kansas doesn't have a number of these resources, it does have wind.

The American Wind Energy Association puts Kansas in third place behind North Dakota and Texas, respectively, with a potential to produce 1,070,000,000,000, or 1,070 billion, kilowatts per year

With this much wind energy potential, companies honed in on areas with the most potential within Kansas, and information available shows the ridges of the Flint Hills could be prime locations for generation systems due to their wind speeds and proximity to transmission lines.

Early in the decade, energy companies began focusing on Kansas' wind potential, and Wabaunsee County received notice in 2002 that J.W. Prairie Windpower was considering a project in Morris County that would overlap into the southwest corner of Wabaunsee County.

At that point it had been a couple decades since Wabaunsee County had updated its comprehensive plan and the county had no zoning regulations governing wind turbines.

A 90-day moratorium was placed on wind farms, beginning Nov. 12, 2002, and Dave Yearout, an engineering, surveying and planning consultant for Baughman Company, was contacted.

By February 2003, three wind turbine companies had indicated interest in doing business in Wabaunsee County.

The Monker's Creek project, which was proposed by J.W. Prairie Windpower, came with numbers attached, and would entail a proposed 60 turbines in Morris County and approximately 10-12 turbines adjacent in the southern portion of Wabaunsee County.

Then-Zoning Director Claude Blevins advised the planning board to use the time provided by the moratorium to get a plan in place addressing turbines.

"If we have a plan that addresses them (turbines), they (companies) will know just what we expect from them," Blevins said during the board's February 2003 meeting. "If someone comes in today with a request for a conditional use permit for a wind turbine we have to go with what we have on the books today. If we have a moratorium, we can hold off until we get our plan updated. We don't want anyone to think we are opposed to wind turbines. We just want to have a proper plan in effect to address them."

Yearout gave a preliminary assessment of how to address the issue in December, and the planning commission began working in earnest to develop guidelines at its February meeting.

Yearout told planning board members that, while new to Kansas, wind farms are nothing new to the United States, and he said the important thing is for the county to clarify what should be considered "policy" positions and what should be considered "zoning" or land use standards.

He also asked the board to consider whether goals identified in the comprehensive plan deal with the rural character of the county in regard to landscape, open spaces and scenery, and whether there are parts of the county the board would consider worth protecting.

He said the board could offer input into minimum and maximum numbers of towers, kilowatt hours of production and the number of acres impacted, as well as setbacks, lighting, reclamation and their impact on natural and biological resources.

As the board went forward developing guidelines, those in favor of commercial wind energy conversion systems and those opposed to them did their research as well.

More about this research, opinions and the chronicles of wind turbines in Wabaunsee County will be outlined in upcoming weeks as we continue our series.



Copyright 2010 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise, Alma, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise Alma, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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