To the editor:

As an environmentalist, I take issue with the anti-wind power views expressed in the Feb. 12 article, “Wind farm opponents air their concerns.”

In farming rural southwest Minnesota, wind power turbines are welcomed for their production of cheap, nonpolluting power. Kansas also needs cheap, nonpolluting wind power.

In the early 20th century, many farms had windmills to pump water from their wells. For centuries, sailboats provided the means for ocean travel. Unlike fossil power, wind power is inexhaustible.

If some of the Flint Hills ranchers object to turbines, they should realize that scattered over the immense area of Kansas, there really isn’t a problem.

The more we can wean ourselves from great dependence on expensive, scarce, polluting fossil power, the better off we shall be. May Senate Bill 455 be killed in committee!

John A. Bond,

Lawrence