Topeka ? The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposed one-year moratorium on wind farm development in much of the Flint Hills.

The measure, rejected on a 20-15 vote, would have applied in Butler, Chase, Greenwood, Lyon, Morris and Wabaunsee counties. Sen. Susan Wagle offered it as an amendment to a minor, House-passed energy bill, which the Senate gave first-round approval.

Land owners and environmentalists have been battling with developers over placing wind farms in the Flint Hills.

Wagle, R-Wichita, said there are questions about who would be liable if a wind turbine collapsed, caused property damage or created noise pollution.

She and other supporters of a moratorium said they also want to preserve the beauty of the hills.

“This is the last of the tallgrass prairie in North America,” she said after the Senate’s vote. “We have a treasure that’s very special.”

But Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, said Wagle’s proposal would interfere with people’s right to enter into contracts allowing for wind turbines on their land.

Journey called the right to contract “a fundamental principle of economic freedom this country has grown on.”

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Energy bill is Sub for HB 2516.