"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."
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