Common Sense Dispatch a Publication of the Kansas Alliance for Responsible Renewable Energy Check out KARRE's Website

Common Sense Dispatch A publication of the Kansas Alliance for Responsible Renewable Energy Check Out KARRE's Website

Protecting Skylines Preserving Agricultural Land Ensuring Quality of Life for All Kansans

Issue #3: May, 2020 Lead image by Diane F. Common Sense Dispatch, May 2020 In this issue:  Not all Non-Essential Business Suspended During Pandemic: Daves Oas  County Updates  Fishing for Facts: Dave Oas  From the Trenches: Beverly Kavouras  Wind Energy and Insects: Margy Stewart  Renewable Energy Certificates  Happenings at the State Level  From My Front Porch: Diane F.  Planet of the Humans: Full Movie, directed by Michael Moore

Not all non-essential business suspended during pandemic Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many business operations and government functions have been put on hold to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 disease. By orders from federal, state, and local authorities, businesses and government agencies, except those deemed essential, which normally conduct person-to-person contact have been required to suspend operations until further notice.

In addition, all Kansas district and appellate courts, as well as Clerks of the Court and court services offices, closed their doors effective March 19th to all but the most serious and essential matters. At a time when Kansans were sheltering-in-place, Expedition Wind LLC, a subsidiary of National Renewable Solutions of Wayzata, Minnesota, filed a surprising lawsuit against six Marion County residents seeking damages in excess of $35 million.

The basis for this action stems from two lawsuits filed by the residents last year: the first against the Marion County Planning Commission and the second against the Marion County Board of County Commissioners. In their suit against the Planning Commission, residents contend the commission improperly approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for Expedition Wind’s proposed industrial wind project. The residents also claim they were not notified of the Planning Commission’s meetings as required by state law and county ordinance.

In the resident’s lawsuit against the County Commission, they argue that the CUP should not have been granted based on the improper recommendation of the Planning Commission. They also claim the County Commission should not have approved the CUP because Expedition Wind arbitrarily drew its project borders with the express intent of undermining a Kansas statute that is designed to allow landowners adjacent to the project property to

1 sign protest petitions. Had the project borders been drawn in standard fashion, the number of protest petitions that were gathered by the residents would have forced a unanimous vote from the three commissioners in order to approve the project. The result would have been a denial of the CUP because Commissioner Dianne Novak has consistently voted against the project.

In response to the residents’ lawsuits, in October of 2019, Expedition Wind legally intervened in the suit between the residents and the Marion County Commission, claiming the action of the residents created a financial hardship to the wind company and to the landowners who had signed leases.

On March 30, 2020 - the first day of Governor Laura Kelly’s stay-at-home order - Expedition Wind warned the residents that if they didn’t dismiss their lawsuit against the Marion County Board of County Commissioners by April 1, 2020, they would face legal action from Expedition Wind.

On April 17th, Expedition Wind filed a lawsuit against Randy Eitzen, Tom Britain, Susan Mayo, Steven Butts, and Brandon and Michelle Butts, the residents, and plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Marion County Commission. Expedition Wind asserts that the lawsuit brought by the residents against the County Commission is only intended to cause delay to their project, making it “infeasible or impossible for Expedition Wind to construct the Project”.

Expedition Wind further claims that the actions of Eitzen have caused them to lose taxpayer-funded production tax credits and other income sources. Marion County residents have not filed any legal action directly against Expedition Wind nor are they preventing Expedition Wind from starting construction of the wind project. Expedition Wind has elected not to begin construction while litigation is pending between the residents and the Board of County Commissioners. In other counties, where residents have filed lawsuits concerning the approvals of industrial projects, the wind companies have begun construction while the suits are pending.

On April 23, 2020, the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin reported, “Patrick Pelstring, CEO of Expedition Wind, said the $35 million sought from Eitzen is an actual loss of production tax credits suffered by the company because of delays caused by Eitzen’s lawsuits.”

In a Letter to the Editor of the Hillsboro Free Press dated December 5,2019, Pelstring wrote,“Expedition has sent ‘settlement’ offers to all of the plaintiffs in the pending lawsuit against the County and indirectly Expedition Wind. We have made fair offers, based on their relative proximity to the wind farm.” Pelstring went on to say, “We are hopeful that this effort will resolve the current and future legal issues, and show folks of our earnest attempt to make things right for all parties involved, including our supporters – who we believe represent the vast majority of the community. But if not, we will seek all necessary legal resolutions to prevail, as we did in the first two lawsuits.”

The recent lawsuit brought by Expedition Wind against the six Marion County residents was filed nearly a month after normal state court functions were severely limited by the COVID-19 outbreak. This has caused several of the defendants to question why Expedition did not file its lawsuit much sooner, or why it didn’t wait to file until the pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Dave Oas, Labette County, Kansas

MCPHERSON COUNTY UPDATE First and foremost, our county wide moratorium is still in place.

The number one concern for our county at the moment is the June 1 deadline for candidates filing for positions within our county government. There are currently 86 open positions in our county!!!

After considering these numbers of all the vacant positions, it occurred to me that our biggest enemy in fighting wind turbine projects is truly apathy. Ask yourself, your friends and neighbors, "What are WE doing to help our cause?" If the answer is "nothing", then you need to get in gear before June 1. You must ACT NOW!

From the "Hunt the Vote" website, "We have lost more than 2 million hunters in the last 5 years. It’s more important than ever that American sportsmen and women unite and vote our values of God, Family, Country, and our Outdoor Lifestyle."

Less than half of licensed hunters in America vote.

This is unacceptable!

Please go to our website, Citizens for Responsible Agricultural Land Use and view Unit 1, which is all about our elections in McPherson County this year. Ask your neighbors and friends if they are registered to vote and if they plan to vote in our elections being held in August and November. Enlist good, honest, non self-serving people to run for office in your township or ward. Then, vote for them. This is the only way you are going to get the results that you would like to see for our county.

MARION COUNTY UPDATE Talks are ongoing between the Marion County Board of Commissioners and Enel Green Power in order to try and come to an agreement on the road situation in the Diamond Vista project.

The other big news out of Marion County is the lawsuit filed by Expedition Wind against five Marion County residents. See that story above. Follow Marion County’s fight on their Facebook page.

LABETTE COUNTY UPDATE In its Kansas Essential Functions Framework (KEFF), the state has broadly defined certain essential services. Apparently, the industrial wind energy developers operating in Southeast Kansas consider their business to be essential.

Local motels are housing construction workers and oversize load escort personnel who also shop in local stores, eat at local restaurants, and enter local convenience stores. License plates and vehicle markings indicate many of these non-local workers come from locations such as Texas, Louisiana, Indiana, and others.

During this time in our history, it would be reasonable for industrial wind energy construction to suspend operations and make every effort to minimize the possibility of spreading the COVID-19 virus among themselves and among our communities. Labette county Facebook group

NEMAHA COUNTY UPDATE Nemaha County Commissioners continue to discuss the best way to implement a comprehensive zoning plan, which will regulate how and where wind projects can be sited in the county, but it’s been slow going due to the COVID-19 shutdowns. Commissioners have moved from weekly meetings to every-other-week meetings for now. In the meantime, the moratorium is still being discussed.

Citizens are actively discussing replacements for the two out of three commissioners who are up for election this year. With all the stress and strife that has surrounding the recent industrial wind situation, it’s difficult to find candidates willing to allow their lives to be disrupted to that extent. As soon as the virus lockdowns are lifted, citizens plan to go full-steam-ahead with the county’s comprehensive plan. Follow Nemaha County on their Facebook page.

NEOSHO COUNTY UPDATE The month of April began with another boil water advisory for various residents of Rural Water District #4, the third such advisory since the end of February 2020, all due to “loss of pressure” due to a “line break”. Each line break resulted in a boil water advisory for 2-3 days with one lasting nearly a week. The explanations of the breaks were varied: Water line locations had been pre-marked, but the exact location difficult based on the maps. Water lines are 60 years old and do not have “tracers”. The line was sitting on a rock. The lines are affected by weather conditions; too dry or too wet.

Concerns of these boil water advisories, especially in context of stay at home orders during this COVID-19 pandemic, were raised by residents to the county commissioners. The response, in addition to the aforementioned "explanations", can be summarized as follows: “…one can still wash your hands with that [contaminated] water, just not drinkable”.

It should be noted the line breaks coincided while digging in the public right of ways was fully underway to support the Neosho Ridge Wind project, many residents of the water district live within the footprint of the project, and none of the other water districts suffered line breaks during this period. Ultimately, it should come as little surprise acceptance of responsibility for these breaks was minimal to none.

The class action lawsuit filed against Neosho Ridge Wind is still ongoing.

While "April showers (water breaks) bring May flowers", the first of 139 wind turbines will be “going vertical”. Not the "flowers" many are looking forward to seeing. Follow Neosho County concerned citizens on their Facebook page.

RENO COUNTY UPDATE The hearing in the pending lawsuit involving NextEra, Reno County, and the Reno County Citizens for Quality of Life was rescheduled for May 21st at 1:30 PM. With the specter of COVID-19 still looming, it is unknown whether the judge will require a hearing by video or will reschedule again to a later date.

Since the Reno County Planning Commission canceled both the March and April meetings, there has been no further discussion concerning updating wind regulations in Reno County. Citizens are still gathering signatures for a moratorium petition to present to the County Commission in the near future. Follow the citizens group on their Facebook Page.

BOURBON COUNTY UPDATE As some may remember, on March 10th, the Bourbon County Commission inked a deal with Apex, and the opposition group now believes it was just about the worst deal they could possibly have made. Not only did the commissioners make it clear there would be no discussion about the agreements, they also left the county wide open to additional development.

Members of the opposition discussed mounting a legal battle, but discussions with lawyers led them to believe it would be difficult at best with COVID-19 resulting in a statewide lockdown, which includes the courts.

Bourbon County citizens are actively recruiting new candidates to run for county offices – candidates who will listen to the citizens and put their needs before the profits of wind companies. Follow the Bourbon County opposition on their Facebook page.

Fishing For Facts The truth about industrial wind energy is mired in a cesspool of U.S. special interest agendas – it has been for years. Tax dollars were used to dig this stink hole and our continuing tax subsidies keep it filled; all the while we’re told it smells like lavender.

More Kansans find themselves considering the impacts that commercial-scale wind energy projects have on rural communities. As you begin educating yourself on what the positive and negative aspects are, you’ll find there’s no shortage of information; in fact, there’s a big ol’ cesspool of it. Admittedly, not everything that comes from the wind industry is fertilizer. Occasionally you’ll hook a bit of objective fact, but it's a chore to sort out and piece together everything you reel in. It’s a messy process that’s easy to fall out of love with.

All you want is irrefutable evidence that industrial wind energy is good, or it's bad. Unfortunately, nothing is irrefutable.

If I sold dirt as a low-fat dietary supplement, I could find experts to back my claims with scientific studies as long as they were sufficiently incentivized; I might even convince lawmakers to subsidize me. Sadly, I don’t have access to that much capital or political clout. The renewable energy industry has plenty of both.

Many wind energy proponents are eager to provide half-truths dressed up to look like concrete facts. For example, the claim that commercial wind energy production doesn’t release CO2 into the atmosphere is TRUE - kind of. Even when an advocacy group acknowledges that the manufacture, transportation, and construction of commercial wind energy components consumes lots of fossil fuels, they mitigate the admission by claiming that the carbon footprint is quickly offset. Here are facts this industry doesn’t freely share about greenhouse gases: 5

Wind can’t produce sustained energy output and therefore it must rely on storage batteries or back-up sources. Feasible and safe battery storage is years away, so the easiest and cheapest solution is to build even more gas- powered electrical generating plants to compensate for the intermittent nature of wind energy.

Although it's true that commercial wind turbines don’t emit CO2 gasses, nearly all of them use Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) in their medium-voltage switchgear, and which "has the highest global warming potential of any known substance - 23,500 times more potent than CO2.

There's much more misleading, incomplete, or false information sold as absolute fact. To be fair though, this highly charged debate nurtures truth-stretching on all sides. After spending an afternoon reading entirely contradictory facts about the very same issue, you may begin to question what “truth” is and whether or not it even still exists. Yes It does, and it’s more accessible than you might imagine.

In my continuing quest to find The Wholly-factual Grail, I have learned to use a two-factor litmus test for weighing conflicting data:

MOTIVATIONS – Why do information sources support the data they share? With respect to the wind energy industry, the recurring motive seems to boil down to generating money for a few landowners and host counties, but more importantly, for developers and utility companies to receive huge Production Tax Credit Subsidies. Surprisingly, little effort is spent on promoting any green aspects of wind energy and virtually none about conserving energy overall.

Many of us who oppose specific projects don't oppose all projects, as long as they’re sited responsibly. Motivations of opposition groups can be money related as well (loss of property values), but they also include health and safety concerns, environmental impact considerations, and preserving quality of life.

METHODS – What tactics are used to achieve goals? Almost without exception, wind energy developers secretly groom potential project sites for up to two years before making their intentions publicly known. After developers step out of the shadows, it’s not uncommon for them to use money to entice, or threats of lawsuits to coerce, landowners, local commissions, and governing boards into accepting their terms.

By contrast, opposition groups share information and experiences via social media, websites, and town hall meetings to keep communities apprised of what’s happening. They also encourage communities to insist upon adequate safeguards and assurances from local governing boards before construction is permitted.

So, where is this “source of truth”? It exists with your ability to apply common sense and reason. Ultimately, we are the jury that must consider the evidence, sort out the chaff, deliberate among ourselves, and render a verdict.

If it doesn’t smell like lavender, it isn’t.

Dave Oas, Labette County, Kansas

From the Trenches Greetings to all “From the Trenches” of McPherson County. 6

I wrote in last month’s column that I had compiled a list of topics to discuss in this column going forward. Little did I realize then that another topic would overtake them all.

So, for this month’s topic, I am going to write about all the uncertainty and what you can be working on at home amidst it all.

Over the past 23 months, I’ve had a to-do list every day for writing, calling, educating, holding meetings and educational events regarding industrial wind, and they were never-ending lists. Now, I find myself having a hard time making any lists. When I do, I weigh whether it’s important or even possible to do now due to mandatory “Stay at Home Orders”. One question that COVID-19 has answered for us all is,

“What is really important in my life?”

For some of you, fighting industrial wind projects in your county may still be in the very forefront, especially if building has begun or getting close to taking place. Our county still has a moratorium in place, so the urgency in our area is not as critical right now.

The historian in me tells me that this virus is going to change everything regarding your fight. We seem to be coming to the top of the virus curve in many states. But rest assured, there will most likely be a second wave possibly this fall that could mutate or be far worse than the first wave. There could also be a third wave. Studying the history of pandemics tells us this is very likely. Check out this article - Why the Second Wave of the 1918 Spanish Flu Was So Deadly [https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-second-wave-resurgence].

There are many wind companies who are under strict deadlines to have their projects completed by the end of 2020. One uncertainty includes whether they can get the IRS or Congress to extend these deadlines. Other questions include: Will these companies be able to bring in workers from other states? Are investors pulling out? Do politicians have the political will to grant these companies relief? Most of the uncertainties will not have an answer anytime soon. In the meantime here are some things that you could or should be doing now from home, in order of importance.

Elections are urgent AND very important and can affect your efforts going forward. Replacing a corrupt county commissioner can make a huge difference over the next four years! Find non-self-serving, honest citizens to run for key elections. Focus on this now! You do NOT have much time. I would recommend candidates file long before the deadline in your county. The filing deadline in McPherson County is noon on June 1st. I am recommending that people file no later than May 15 to allow time to fix problems that may occur, and they WILL occur. Many courthouses are closed to the public and working with skeleton crews. Most filings will have to be done by mail. (See: McPherson County Candidates 2020). Do not miss finding good citizens to run for Precinct Committee Chairs in your county. These positions can be crucial. When a commissioner in our county passed away, six people from the Republican Precinct Committee got to decide which candidate would get to finish his term.

 Write and mail letters to your commissioners, state, and federal government elected officials.  Let them know you are worried about out of state construction workers coming into your county and possibly infecting your citizens and spreading the virus.  Keep building your lists of contacts and supporters and ask them all to write letters.  Build new and better systems for contacting all your supporters in a quick manner.  Research the history of commercial wind energy projects in your area. 7

Timeline Related to CWEPS in McPherson County. (This document became very important in informing and educating our county commissioners, and the public, of what had happened from the beginning until the present time. None of them were on the board when much of this happened a decade earlier. One commissioner had signed leases on his land. This exposed the fact that he never should have been allowed to vote to lift the moratorium as it was a conflict of interest. An article was written about this in the local paper.)

Finally, here are some things to focus on this month.

 Be bigger than the companies you are fighting.  If you are not politically feared, you will never be politically respected.  This is a political fight, not a legal one. (Never forget this.)

Wind companies cannot bully, bribe, coerce or sue a virus. Neither can politicians or elections. Time may be on our side. Take care of yourselves and your families. This should be your top priority right now. And like my mother used to say... “We’re doing the best we can, that’s all we can do.”

Beverly Kavouras, McPherson County, Kansas

Wind Energy and Insects "The Little Things that Run the World"

Too many people have a fairy tale image of wind energy—as if it were a fairy godmother come to save us from climate change, those moving blades nothing more than her shimmering, diaphanous wings.

But her dazzling aura disappears once wildlife is considered. In the real world, heavy machines in constant motion do not alight softly on the land.

Indeed, we are just beginning to tally wind energy’s toll on ecosystems. First, we learned about birds, how eagles and hawks were being killed. Then we learned about bats, how wind energy is driving their decline. (See “Will Bats Survive Wind Energy?” Common Sense Dispatch, April 2020.)

Now we are starting to learn about damage to a class of animals that, despite their lowly status, turn out to be essential to life on earth—Class Insecta, insects.

As far back as 2001, researchers discovered that industrial wind developments (IWDs) were killing insects in numbers large enough to hamper electricity production. Insect body parts—exoskeletons and hemolymph--were accumulating on the blades. Those remains roughened the surfaces and interrupted the air flows to the point that productivity could be reduced by half. This was considered an industrial problem, not an ecological one, as insect populations were assumed to be so large that they could easily absorb all the deaths from blades.

But a study published in 2018 found that turbine-caused mortality did pose population-wide threats to insects. Lead author Franz Trieb estimated that in Germany alone 1.2 trillion insects are killed every year by “wind parks” (as they’re called in Germany). Trieb found that the cruising altitude for many insects coincides with the sweep of rotors. He documented “high insect concentrations worldwide at altitudes between 20 and 220 metres above the ground—the very same altitudes occupied by the rotors of wind turbines.” He based his mortality numbers

8 on analyses of insect residue scraped off of blades. The next step for researchers, he says, is to find a way to determine how many additional insects die of “barotrauma,” the pressure differential between the leading and trailing edge of blades that has proven so deadly to bats, by causing their internal organs to collapse. (The remains of exploded insects are more likely to dissipate than leave an obvious trace, so innovative research methods would be needed to calculate their numbers.) Still, he found the mortality from direct strikes alone to be worrisome: “Such a large number of affected insects could be a relevant factor for the stability of the insect population and could thus influence species protection and the food chain,” he concludes.

Other researchers have explored additional threats to insect populations. Beside blade contact and barotrauma, IWDs subject insects to light pollution. The lights atop wind towers, required by the FAA, are an annoyance to neighboring humans, who are irritated by the non-stop blinking. But the lights are more than an irritant to insects, whose lives are keyed to day-night cycles and who are often fatally attracted to lights. Artificial lights disturb every aspect of insect development, from emergence to mating to predator-avoidance. “The evidence that light pollution has profound and serious impacts on ecosystems is overwhelmingly strong,” says the conservation group Buglife. Stating the problem even more starkly, a 2019 article in Biological Conservation describes light pollution as a “bringer of the insect apocalypse.”

Indeed, that phrase, “insect apocalypse”--made famous in a 2018 New York Times Magazine article entitled “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here: What Does It Mean for the Rest of Life on Earth?”—indicates that we’ve moved way past the assumption that insect numbers are so vast that losses to IWDs make no difference. In a summary of recent research, author Brooke Jarvis describes the world-wide decline in the numbers of insects, posing a threat to ecosystems everywhere. With insect numbers plummeting, Jarvis describes fish scientists worried about mayflies and bird scientists worried food for insectivorous birds. Indeed, ornithologists are now contemplating the possibility that the well-documented decline of bird populations is due not only to habitat loss but also to starvation. Fish and birds are part of an entire eco-universe that depends on insects. Paraphrasing entomologist Scott Hoffman Black, Jarvis writes, “We worry about saving the grizzly bear, but where is the grizzly without the bee that pollinates the berries it eats or the flies that sustain baby salmon? Where, for that matter, are we?”

Where, for that matter, are we? Black/Jarvis’s final question is one we humans need to ask ourselves. Certainly, we depend no less than grizzly bears on a healthy ecosystem. Seventy-five percent of our food crops are insect- pollinated, and when Jarvis asked scientists to describe an insect-poor world, he heard words like “resource wars,” “collapse,” and “Armageddon.” Yet it’s the constant growth of our infrastructure--what Jarvis calls “the relentless expansion of human spaces”--that is causing the crises for wildlife and ultimately for ourselves.

No amount of fairy dust can make IWDs anything other than a part of this “relentless expansion of human spaces.” People can argue that IWDs are or are not a genuine alternative to fossil fuels—but neither side should ignore the industrial reality of IWDs and their impact on the natural world.

Why believe in fairy godmothers when we still have so much to learn about the wondrous creatures that actually exist? Let’s pay attention to our wild neighbors, for the more we learn about them, the more we learn about ourselves—and the better we can chart the best ways forward toward a rich and vibrant future. And while we’re at it, let’s show some appreciation for humble but helpful six-legged beings, some of whom really do have iridescent, diaphanous wings. ------Update on “Will Bats Survive Wind Energy?”: On April 2, 2020, Marion County Commissioner Dianne Novak asked to see Expedition Wind’s Bird and Bat Conservation Plan, also requested by the Kansas Department of 9

Wildlife and Parks. On April 3, 2020, Expedition Wind replied that such plans are not for public consumption and are generally prepared only for internal use.

~Margy Stewart [email protected] Bird Runner Wildlife Refuge prairieheritage.org, prairiecommunity.blogspot.com

From My Front Porch Two of my favorite things about the view from my front porch are the wheat fields that surround our house in all directions and the amazing Kansas sunsets that can’t be beat anywhere in the world. As a landscape photographer, I’m in the ideal location for capturing beautiful imagery. Of course, for this mom though, there’s a view that’s even better than these two things combined and it’s one that’s just a little closer to the porch. It’s the view of two boys and their giant dog growing up together in the country. Imagine for me if you will… tire swings, hay bale jumping, adventures exploring gravel roads, countless games of “Annie Annie Over” on farm sheds, lightening bug collections, and our very own barn cat welcome committee. The quiet, as well as the physical safety and mental peace we feel in this place, can’t be matched or quantified. We didn’t know when we chose to move to this AGRICULTURALLY zoned area five years ago that we’d someday be facing an out of control zoning committee who would not only allow, but encourage, an INDUSTRIAL wind farm in our AGRICULTURALLY zoned area. So now we fight to keep our front porch quiet and safe and peaceful for these two boys (as well as our country neighbors and friends who also did not sign up to live in an industrial power plant).

Column: Diane F. Image: Diane F.

We would love to hear from you. Please share your front porch stories and pictures with us. You can email them to [[email protected]]. If you post pictures on Instagram, etc. please use the hashtag #frommyfrontporchKS or #frommyfrontporch so that we can share our stories and pictures with each other. Thank you.

Renewable Energy Certificates A Game of Smoke and Mirrors

Last year we heard how the State Fair in Hutchinson was 100% powered by wind, but was it really?

That misleading claim was a bit of “greenwashing,” which is defined as giving the public a false impression that something is more environmentally friendly than it really is. The power lines that carried electricity to the booths and buildings at the State Fair were not reconfigured – no one connected them to the Diamond Vista wind farm, which is located in Marion County. Yet the claim was made that the State Fair was 100% powered by energy from Diamond Vista’s turbines. How did they get away with making such a claim?

The answer lies in renewable energy certificates (RECs).

RECs are an illusion—created out of thin air and deposited into the energy “accounts” of wind farms for every megawatt-hour of electricity their turbines produce. When a utility or an entity purchases RECs, the wind company retires those certificates, and the entity then claims it was powered by renewable energy. While incredibly misleading, it’s actually legal to make that claim. 10

FACT: Wind energy is intermittent, meaning electricity is only produced when the wind blows. Firm sources of energy, such as coal and nuclear, are required to back-up the production of intermittent energy because the electrical grid does not store energy.

FACT: If the wind doesn’t blow during the State Fair, firm sources of energy will kick-in and produce the electricity needed for the booths, rides, and buildings.

FACT: It is impossible to show that electricity produced by a specific source, such as Diamond Vista, has been directed to the entity that purchases RECs.

The next time you hear a business, utility, or entity claim it is “100% powered by the wind,” you’ll know it’s an illusion designed to make you think something is happening when it isn’t.

At the State and Federal Level With both the nation and Kansas in the grip of COVID-19, legislation in April focused on controlling the spread of the virus and on helping those who were financially impacted by being out of work. Early on in the congressional debate over a stimulus package, wind energy companies made a play for a bailout but that was ultimately rejected.

At the state level, Governor Kelly's stay-at-home order resulted in some county leaders either canceling their regular meetings, reducing their frequency, or holding them -- but without the public in attendance. Some wind companies took advantage of the situation, choosing to negotiate with commissioners over the phone. This occurred in Crawford County, and as a result, the commission there voted to approve agreements with Apex.

HELPFUL RESOURCES Glossary of Frequently Used Terms and Acronyms: Here on the KARRE website, you can find out what all those obscure terms used by the renewable energy companies really mean.

PLEASE NOTE Information contained in this newsletter is intended to be correct and reliable. If you believe any of the data or statements shared here are inaccurate or incomplete, please contact us.

Corrections from April's Newsletter: - NextEra’s attorney is “Alan Anderson” not “Ian Anderson” - David Orr is a commissioner in Neosho County, not Bourbon County. - Attorney for Expedition Wind was incorrectly identified as Patricia Volt. Her actual surname is “Voth.”

Send questions, corrections, and story suggestions to [[email protected]].

If not otherwise attributed, images in this issue are in the public domain. Information in "County Updates" is contributed by citizens of the named counties.

KARRE: April 2020 Editor: Glenda Taylor Managing editor: Dave Oas

Assistant editor: Bev Kavouras Regular contributor: Margy Stewart Quality control: Shirley Estrada Regular contributor: Sunny Chilson

Information contained in this site is intended to be reliable. If you believe any of the data or statements shared here are not accurate or complete, please contact us.