CONCERN: 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: While we are in favor of renewable alternative energy, we strongly oppose placing industrial wind energy complexes in the Flint Hills. The Flint Hills are not a renewable resource. It's a one-of-a-kind landscape. As an alternative, we support siting wind turbines on land that has already been fragmented by farming or other development. Why fragment and compromise this unique and endangered 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.
• Wind factory development will most likely reduce adjacent real estate values.
• Most of the money and energy generated by these wind factories will leave the state.
• When the turbines become obsolete, who is responsible for the demolition and cleanup?
• 1000 turbines would only contribute 1/10 of 1% of our nation's current electricity production. Is it worth sacrificing the Flint Hills, the last of an ecosystem, for this nominal amount of energy?
• The Flint Hills attract many tourists. When the scenic views no longer exist, what will happen to the tourism opportunities that have been developed?
• Why should we pay 3 times for wind energy: higher utility costs, federal incentives and state tax subsidies?
  
  

Landowner concerns:

• Wind energy development will entail 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 factories find that the value of their property has decreased, their scenic views have been destroyed, and the natural environment has been altered.
• How will wind factories affect pasture burning, hunting, recreation, and other land uses?
• Landowners cannot prevent utility easements from crossing their property.
  
  

The Hills, Concerns:

• A thousand wind turbines in the Flint Hills are projected to generate 1/10 of 1% of our nation's energy production. Are we willing to be responsible for sacrificing the last 3% of an endangered ecosystem for this amount of 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, flinty upland in 1806?
• Do we jeopardize the wildlife habitat and the already 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!