Opponents say wind farms come at a cost

Green wind energy sounds appealing as companies propose leasing land to build new wind farms that would help counties with job creation and economic development efforts.

Concerned citizens in Neosho County have been researching the impacts of wind farms on counties and found things to not be so green, including claimed financial benefits to counties and landowners.

About 30 people met Wednesday night at Tony’s Function Junction south of Erie to discuss the proposed Apex Clean Energy wind farm project in Neosho County and to share what they’ve found about wind projects in Kansas and other states. Apex plans a wind energy generation project on 40,000 acres in Neosho County.

Those gathered Wednesday said wind energy comes at a cost, a cost that counties in Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are absorbing far beyond what the wind energy companies invest and the value of temporary jobs produced, the citizens said.