Dive Summary:
- Before Kansas can become the "Saudi Arabia of Wind" envisioned by Gov. Sam Brownback, it will need more high-voltage electric lines connecting remote wind farms to the areas demanding their power.
- The construction of the power lines, some of which would cross multiple state lines, has been held up by complex federal and state rules, but lawmakers in Kansas and other states are working to assemble an interstate compact to streamline the process.
- States participating in the compact would have to consider a project's impact on an entire region as opposed to individual states, and developers would have a unified entity to deal with.
From the article:
... As is the case in Kansas, which sits at the center of a wind tunnel stretching from eastern Montana and North Dakota down to Texas, some of the country’s best resources lie far from the people who need it.
For many reasons, it’s hard to build lines across states. The lines can draw protests from groups concerned about the use of eminent domain or the effect on the environment. Even less controversial projects can take years to complete as companies slog through conflicting rules and deadlines in each state a project touches. In one extreme case, American Electric Power spent 14 years getting approval for a 90-mile line that took just 18 months to build, according to a report by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. ...