"Proposed Rules Threaten To Derail Kan. Wind Industry"

"Renewable energy development would dry up in the nation's fifth-largest wind energy-producing state under a measure being debated in the Kansas Legislature this week, critics of the proposal warn.

Industry representatives said the restrictions wouldn't just slow renewable build-out in a state where wind energy has thrived through political changes, deep recessions and even a pandemic. They would stop it entirely.

"I don't speak in hyperbole when I say this bill ends the renewable energy industry in Kansas," said Kimberly Svaty, a lobbyist for the Advanced Power Alliance, a renewable energy advocacy group that works across the Great Plains.

At the heart of S.B. 279 are requirements for wind turbines to be at least a mile from property lines of neighboring landowners — and sometimes even farther. The regulations are similar to setbacks adopted in a rural southeastern Nebraska county last year and are among the most restrictive of any state in the United States."

Jeffrey Tomich reports for E&E News March 24, 2021.

Source: E&E News, 03/25/2021