CONCERN: The impact of industrial wind development in the KANSAS FLINT HILLS.

MISSION: Our mission is to protect the wide-open spaces of the KANSAS FLINT HILLS, the last significant expanse of tallgrass prairie on the continent.

VISION: We strongly oppose placing industrial wind energy complexes in the Flint Hills. The Flint Hills region is not a renewable resource. It's a one-of-a-kind landscape. Industrial wind turbines should be placed on land that has already been fragmented by farming or other development. Why fragment and compromise this unique and endangered Tallgrass Prairie ecosystem with industrial development when Kansas has over 8 million acres of already fragmented land with good wind resources?

Economic concerns:

• While millions of dollars of industrial development are being proposed for the Flint Hills region, there will be NO significant tax revenue for our local communities or the state of Kansas.
• There will be very little increase in employment.
• Industrial wind facility development often reduces adjacent real estate values.
• Most of the money and energy generated by these wind facilities will leave the state.
• When the turbines become obsolete, who is responsible for the demolition and cleanup?
• The Flint Hills attract many tourists. If the scenic views no longer exist, the tourism opportunities that have been developed will no longer exist.
• Why should we pay 3 times for wind energy: higher utility costs, more of our tax dollars for federal incentives and state tax subsidies?
  
  

Landowner concerns:

• Wind energy development entails a maze of roads, 30 feet deep cement foundations for each turbine, and miles of trenches and transmission lines tearing up the virgin Tallgrass Prairie.
• The lease contracts favor the corporate energy developer rather than the landowner.
• Landowners who own property next to wind facilities find that the value of their property has decreased, their scenic views have been destroyed, and the natural environment has been altered.
• How will industrial wind facilities affect pasture burning, hunting, recreation, and other land uses?
• Landowners cannot prevent utility easements from crossing their property.
  
  

The Hills, Concerns:

• Are we willing to be responsible for sacrificing the last 4% of an endangered ecosystem for a small amount of intermittent and unreliable energy?
• Where are the geological and environmental studies that reflect how hundreds of lighted turbines will affect our communities, livestock, wildlife, birds, underground water, and the last of the Tallgrass Prairie?
• Do we really want to say goodbye to the spectacular views of the Flint Hills, where you can still see the same unobstructed vistas that Zebulon Pike saw when he explored this vast, rocky upland in 1806?
• Do we jeopardize the wildlife habitat and the diminishing prairie chicken population which is already close to being named an "endangered species"?
• Are we willing to let the eerie drone of gigantic 400-500 foot tall wind turbines dominate the sights and sounds of the Flint Hills?
• Are we willing to protect the Flint Hills? We don't have much time to answer.
  
  
  
  LET’S NOT DESTROY THE WIDE-OPEN SPACES AND TALLGRASS PRAIRIE OF THE FLINT HILLS!