Topeka ? If there were a bill in Congress that required states to buy Kansas beef, the Kansas congressional delegation would be first in line to vote for it, Gov. Mark Parkinson said Wednesday.

So he questioned why some Kansas members were not supporting legislation that contains national renewable electricity standards that could result in states buying electricity produced by Kansas wind farms.

Parkinson made the comment to about 700 people at the Kansas Wind and Renewable Energy Conference.

“A strong, national RES is the single most important piece of legislation for Kansas that is in Congress this year,” Parkinson said. He said the Kansas delegation should “lock up in favor” of this, as he put the telephone numbers of the Kansas congressional members on a screen.

A national RES would require the production of a certain percentage of electric power from renewable sources. Parkinson said he sees a national requirement as being a boon for wind development in Kansas, which sits in the middle of the “wind belt” and has been ranked as the No. 3 state in wind energy potential. States that don’t have the wind resource of Kansas would have to buy energy from Kansas, he said.

A national RES was part of a bill designed to reduce climate-changing greenhouse gases that was approved this summer by the U.S. House, 219-212. The measure would cap greenhouse gas emissions and then allow the buying and trading of emission allocations under that limit. The bill also would establish a renewable electricity standard and improved energy efficiency for a combined total of 20 percent of energy use by 2020.

The two members of Congress representing Lawrence split on the vote. U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., voted for it, while U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., voted against. Kansas’ two other House members — Republicans Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt — also voted against the bill.

Jenkins said the cap-and-trade part of the bill dealing with emissions would result in increased energy costs and loss of jobs.

“While Congresswoman Jenkins opposes the job-killing cap-and-trade legislation, she continues to pursue an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence that includes looking at a renewable energy standard and assessing the potential positive impacts on the Kansas economy,” her office said Wednesday.

Moore had an opposite take on the bill, saying that it would spur development.

“Changing the way we create and use energy will not only create new industries and jobs throughout the country — jobs that can’t be shipped overseas — it will revitalize our economy by making the United States a leader in the energy industry and increase our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” Moore said.

The Senate version of the climate bill was introduced last week and doesn’t include a national RES, but separate bills do have it.

Parkinson said the demand for wind energy that would be created by a national RES would increase wind generation in Kansas tenfold, from 1,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts, while also helping clean the environment.

“We’re not asking (the Kansas congressional delegation) to vote for bad public policy, and it will be great for Kansas,” he said.