Mixed emotions about wind farms linger Mark R. Joslyn

AI-assisted summary

Wind power now accounts for nearly half of Kansas's electricity, a significant increase over the last decade.

While wind farms provide cheaper electricity and economic benefits to communities, they also spark local resistance.

About one-fifth of Kansas counties, particularly in the Flint Hills region, now prohibit new wind farm installations.

West of Salina, on the way to Colorado, I saw them for the first time, towering over the plains, their immense blades turning in slow rhythmic circles.

I was excited to see them, their sheer size awe-inspiring.

My excitement, however, mixed with concern as the giant machines changed the quiet vastness of the open prairie into something commercial, even industrial.

Twenty years later, having passed by hundreds more — they’ve