Wind Power

As the number of wind and solar farms increases, so does opposition in the rural areas where they’re being built. While more counties and townships passed restrictions in the last year, some states are responding by passing laws making it harder for local governments to say no to wind and solar.

Kansas City voters overwhelmingly approved renewing a local sales tax to fund public transit for the next decade, while moderate school board candidates beat out conservative challengers in some big Johnson County districts. Plus: Solar energy is stepping up in Kansas.

Kansas has nearly 4,000 turbines, many taller than the Statue of Liberty. People see blinking lights for miles, but now radars can help preserve the night skies.

Johnson and Douglas counties approved regulations allowing the construction of what would be the largest utility-scale solar farm in Kansas. But while residents say they support green energy, there's a vocal contingent pushing back against building 2,000 acres of panels so close to their communities.

Being a foster parent is hard enough, but being one in rural Kansas presents its own struggles. Plus, the wind energy industry is now facing a new challenge: what to do with old wind turbine blades when it’s time to replace them.

The wind energy industry is now facing a new challenge: what to do with old wind turbine blades when it’s time to replace them. The answer is found at a recycling plant in a historic Mississippi River town 90 miles north of St. Louis.

Kansans with substance use problems say they are falling through the cracks of a legal system that’s more concerned with punishing them than getting them sober. And, a transmission line that would deliver wind energy from southwest Kansas to other parts of the country has some Missouri farmers concerned about the use of eminent domain to complete the project.

Wind industry experts say the bills would transform Kansas, one of the top producers of wind energy for two decades, into one of the most restrictive states in the nation.

Large wind farms have been cranking out electricity in Kansas for 20 years. In this episode we follow Brian Grimmett of the Kansas News Service as he looks at how the state’s wind industry has changed and where it could be heading.

Living in the shadow of the state's first large-scale wind farm for 20 years has been an economic boon for the people living in Gray County, Kansas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led workers to experience burnout at unprecedented rates, and a bill in the Kansas Senate aims to more strictly regulate the wind turbine industry.