Task force urged to set stiff wind farm regulations / LJWorld.com

Archive for Saturday, February 21, 2004

February 21, 2004

Topeka — Giant wind turbines may attract tourists in the flatlands of southwestern Kansas but would destroy the beauty of the Flint Hills, a landscape architect told a state wind energy task force Friday.

Lorn Clement, who teaches landscape architecture at Kansas State University, said the wind towers and turbines would mar the vistas, in addition to the effort it would take to put them there.

"It's the construction of the roads and the visual impacts. We'll see those road cuts forever," he said.

Clement spoke to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' Wind and Prairie Task Force. Sebelius appointed the task force to provide recommendations on the decision-making process for locating wind energy projects.

"The potential is very good," for developing wind energy in Kansas, said task force co-chairman Jerry Karr of Emporia, who is a former state senator. "We're probably No. 1 in wind potential among all the states."

But Karr said there were many issues to examine.

"One of the challenges we have is to the viewscape, and how it will adversely affect the aesthetic value of the Flint Hills," Karr said.

The Flint Hills, comprised of a 12-county north-south swath that includes Manhattan, Emporia and El Dorado, is home to the world's largest expanse of tallgrass prairie, which is an endangered ecosystem.

The area also has great wind potential and has become a flash point between landowners who want to lease property for wind turbines and those who want to preserve the landscape.

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The issue has spilled over into the Legislature, where a bill is under consideration that would require a lengthy application process to install a wind project.

Clement said the state needed to step into the fray because too few counties had laws regulating such wind energy projects.

He said while wind turbines could be seen as an economic boon in southwestern Kansas, "the novelty of those wind turbines would wear off quickly in the Flint Hills."

The task force Web site is www.kansasenergy.org/sercc_wptf.htm.