When Franklin County Commissioners, denied a special use permit application last week, for a wind research tower by Nextera Energy, it sent a strong signal that Franklin County Government isn’t receptive to a commercial wind project. Franklin County is not alone. Recent decisions in other East Central Kansas counties – Anderson, Osage and Linn in particular – which effectively have created a multi-county ‘dead zone’ for wind energy in the region. Nextera has been looking at rural Douglas County since 2013 and has place several research towers there with approval of the Douglas County Commission. A Nextera project there would cover thousands of acres in southwest Douglas and lap over into northwest Franklin County.
Franklin County’s decision followed several other wind project denials in the area. Anderson County Commissioners enacted Preventative Zoning Restrictions in 2015 to stop a wind project in the eastern area of the county. Two years ago Linn County enacted a moratorium against the projects. In October, Osage County Commissioners voted to adopt a policy forbidding wind or other alternative energy projects in the midst of a project proposed near Burlingame. Opponents are also fighting a project under development in Harvey County.
