ERMUSR MISC ISSUES 11-09-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Plans for Huge Wind Turbines Jolt Kansans By JIM CARLTON North America.Situated between Kansas City and ergy developers. Over the past three years, Wichita, the Flint Hills are a weekend sanctuary developers have floated about two dozen wind- Cottonwood Falls, Kan. for many city folks,an oasis of untilled land in the farm projects, each potentially containing as HEN AN energy company ap- Midwestern Wheat Belt. many as 100 wind turbines. proached Jane Koger about putting But that proximity to populated areas and the The issue has split the environmental some wind turbines on her ranch, fact the Flint Hills is an extraordinarily gusty movement: Local chapters of the Audubon So- she was elated.The fourth-generation Kansan place have made the region a target for wind-en- ciety and Nature Conservancy say the tur- was familiar with wind energy: Some years bines would befoul the landscape and harm before, she had erected an 84-foot-high wind- , 4,4'' wildlife,while Kansas Sierra Club leaders ar- mill on her property near here to provide all of " gue that exploiting wind power here will help her electricity needs. , , reduce America's reliance on fossil fuels. But when she later discovered the com- ip The view that there should be none is elitist," pany planned to build dozens of turbines more " says Charles Benjamin, a lobbyist for the Si- than 300 feet high for miles around, she was erra Club in Kansas. Counters Ron Klataske, appalled—so much so, she says, that she re ", executive director of the Audubon of Kansas: turned her $500 retainer check. She stood to "It's sad that the Sierra Club would mislead make about $2,000 annually from the com- their membership that this is green energy, pany,FPL Energy, for each turbine placed on n when it causes destruction." Wind farms have drawn similar contro her property. "It million wouldn't dollars,if if the tur p bines made me a million dollars,if the thing I ° '; versy around the world. But this battle stands loved was destroyed in the process," Ms. x; out because it's taking place in a state gener Roger says. t ally not thought of for its scenery, and one Across the Kansas Flint Hills,farmers and a where many residents are staunch supporters anchers are up in arms over plans by wind t i € of President Bush and his policies of coming developers to erect hundreds of spinning tur- up with more energy sources. bines astride hills and ridges that encompass Flint Hills rancher Rose Bacon (above)fears Proponents of wind energy extol its cleanli- the largest expanse of tallgrass prairie left in wind turbines will harm the local environment. Please Turn to Page 82, Column 6 •