HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As the Reno County Planning Commission prepares to address possible regulation changes to wind farms, the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce believes that the current regulations are appropriate and should not be amended. Any attempt to implement unreasonable setbacks are an attempt to effectively stop any wind farm development in Reno County. The chamber released this statement.
“Kansans have been using wind power for generations and is now one of the top-ranked states for wind energy. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), corporate customers across the U.S. are buying record amounts of wind power and Kansas is the third highest in wind energy exports. In a recent article, AWEA also states that one of our State’s future growth opportunities is to capitalize on the natural resource we are given as central to the wind belt.
Over a decade ago, the Reno County Wind Energy Task Force was created to explore opportunities for wind power. Members of the task force were instrumental in developing a wind energy policy in Kansas. Our Chamber's public policy agenda supports wind energy as a key component of our economic development strategy, and our communities have all benefited from the 300+ jobs at Siemens Gamesa. Just as our community benefits from industries which extract a natural resource far beneath the surface in one of the largest salt-producing regions, Reno County has the opportunity to become an exporter of the very natural resource that blows abundantly across our plains.
A progressive policy for wind energy development is important to Reno County’s economic future based on the direct jobs, construction jobs, and added tax base that wind farms create for communities. We encourage all Chamber members who support economic development and job creation to attend and/or send written testimony in support of the regulations as currently written. Written testimony can be sent to Mark Vonachen at [email protected].”
The planning commission meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Reno County Courthouse.