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Governor’s Message to the SERCC Wind and Prairie Task Force
Presented by Joyce Allegrucci, Chief of Staff to the Governor
January 23, 2004

We have two natural resource treasures at the heart of the Task Force’s charge: Wind and the Flint Hills/Tallgrass Prairie of Kansas. We have underappreciated both in our past.

Governor Sebelius supports the full and aggressive development of alternative energy sources in Kansas, especially including wind energy!

Governor Sebelius supports the preservation of the Flint Hills/Tallgrass Prairie as a Kansas and a national treasure.

The Governor’s byword is balance. She does not believe that in the case of Wind Energy and the Prairie it is an either-or situation. We CAN and MUST have both.

The Governor’s original idea with the Task Force was to help develop tools and best practices to assist in local decision-making. Ultimately, as more and more counties and more and more legislators have come to her asking for her involvement, she wants the Task Force to consider ideas in a full state-wide context.

Issues for the Task Force and every interested Kansan to wrestle with:

• Development - income for farmers and ranchers in the Flint Hills and elsewhere
• Siting - voluntary guidelines for counties to consider
• Electric transmission capability mostly out of the state’s hands
• Technology
• Incentives for wind energy development in western Kansas
• Federal control on energy policy - Production Tax Credit held up because Energy Bill is on hold; State legislative issues need input from SERCC and the Task Force - e.g., tax incentives for wind (SB 85).