Counties combining for wind talk
By MIKE CORN
WaKEENEY -- Dan Hartman thinks it's time to talk turkey -- about wind, that is.
So he made the circuit inviting commissioners from six northwest Kansas counties to a meeting, most likely in Oakley next month.
The topic will be wind, and how the six counties can work together in some sort of compact to promote wind development, perhaps even become a key player in the construction of physical facilities that will be needed for wind farms to work.
Hartman, director of the Logan County Development Corp., made his pitch about a wind consortium to Trego County Commissioners on Monday.
Commissioners embraced the idea put forward by Hartman.
"I think it's a great idea," Commissioner Dean Papes said.
Although plenty remains to be decided, Trego County could join with Wallace, Sherman, Thomas, Gove and Logan counties to talk about how they can take advantage of the opportunity for wind.
Working together, Hartman said, would level the playing field for smaller counties against the likes of Hays and Salina.
Hartman said he's talked with the Kansas Corporation Commission about setting up some sort of group to perhaps build substations or even transmission lines that would connect wind farms with larger lines.
The six counties, he said, could become something of the "gatekeeper" of wind in the area.
"I think this is the first time in about 50 years that something has come along that will actually help the family farmer," he said of the opportunity for wind development.
The benefits won't stop there, he said, as wind projects would add to the economy through construction and jobs.
Working together to accomplish some of the things needed by wind farms, the six counties could become key players, and could become part of the tariff process -- the actual rate structure that follows electricity.
It's unlikely, he said, the counties ever would be considered utilities, but they could share in the cost of electricity.
Hartman said he pitched the idea of county involvement to Hays-based Midwest Energy, Westar and the Southwest Power Pool, the traffic cop of electricity in the region, and they responded favorably but wanted KCC involvement along the way.
A meeting of commissioners from the six counties would provide a framework of how to proceed.
"I think it's important for the future of northwest Kansas to try to do something," he said of talking about the wind issue. "I'm definitely not the guy with all the answers. I've got some of the answers and some questions."
But now is the time to move, he said.
"I think we've got a two-year window of opportunity," he said.