To the editor:

The proposed Douglas County regulations appropriately recognize safety; end of life issues; wildlife and flicker issues; and the economic benefits to landowners. View sheds in Douglas County and elsewhere already include water towers, high voltage electric transmission lines and communications towers.

The shorter the food, fuel and electric supply line, the more reliable it is. Moving electricity hundreds of miles to serve Douglas County residents has greater risks of interruptions than does delivering that energy within the county.

Landowners whose primary business is agriculture are at the mercy of the weather and market forces. Farmers and ranchers do not establish the prices they pay for their inputs, nor the selling prices of their products. They do not control when and how much rain will fall or how hot or cold it will be. Being able to receive payments for wind or solar generation units provides guaranteed income.

Kansas is a state where landowners can largely control how they use their land, so long as those uses do not directly adversely impact their neighbors. The proposed wind generation siting guidelines reflect the best practices developed in Kansas and other states for siting and operating commercial-size wind farms.

Tom Sloan,

Lawrence