Mike Thompson’s attacks on solar power farms keep Kansas in the energy Dark Ages

Kansas state Sen. Mike Thompson of Shawnee is the de facto leader of an anti-renewable energy group working to stop wind and solar power in the state, denying Kansans their many benefits. Those benefits include zero-emissions power generation, low electricity pricing, no water usage or wastewater production, no toxic coal ash or radioactive wastes, quiet operation and economic boosts for rural areas.

Thompson is a retired TV weatherman with no engineering, business or power industry background. Clearly, he understands little about power generation, environmental impacts or grid operation. Regardless, Thompson claims renewables threaten electricity costs and reliability, even though Kansas has a 20-year history and scores of renewable energy projects that prove otherwise. He claims, without evidence, that solar and wind farms harm their rural neighbors. As chair of the Kansas Senate Committee on Utilities, Thompson attacked renewables with eight ill-conceived bills this year.

During committee hearings, Thompson attempted to strike a recognized expert’s testimony who countered Thompson’s false claims about wind farm’s health impacts. Thompson invited witnesses to testify that solar developers could take their family’s farmland against their will, though the senator should know private energy developers can’t use eminent domain. Thompson’s bills sought to take away the freedom of contract and add bureaucratic regulations solely for renewable energy projects. Fortunately, Thompson’s bills didn’t receive support from other legislators, so they didn’t advance from his committee.

Stopped for now at the state level, Thompson is working to block solar farms in Johnson and Douglas counties through highly restrictive zoning regulations. Thompson, Johnson County Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara and others have continually misinformed the public about solar power, and have recruited local residents to vocally oppose it. Solar opponents produce a constant stream of misinformation on social media. Even Barbara Kerr, co-chair of a local anti-solar group described some information on her group’s website as “just horrible” and “counterfactual and not something we should have on the website.”

Anti-solar groups make dozens of untrue claims without credible evidence. They falsely say solar farms create “heat islands” that harm nearby livestock. They say solar panels will contaminate groundwater, though they’re largely made of inert aluminum and crystalline silicon. They claim China wants to weaken America through solar farms. Despite contracts requiring solar farm owners to post financial security for the entire cost of a facility’s eventual decommissioning, opponents dishonestly claim taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.

Besides spreading misinformation, renewable opponents make illogical arguments. They want property tax exemptions revoked for renewable plants, but not for conventional power plants. They claim solar farms require large amounts of land, but ignore the extensive footprints of conventional power plants with their associated coal mines, gas wells, pipelines and railroads. They exaggerate the minor environmental impacts of renewable power, but ignore the very harmful impacts of fossil fuel power plants, including their climate-warming carbon emissions.

Solar opponents believe intermittent renewables are “unreliable” since they use variable wind and sunshine. However, renewables have been successfully integrated into the Southwest Power Pool, which serves Kansas and 16 other states, for 20 years. The pool’s highest renewable energy peak supplied 87.5% of the power utilized on May 8, 2021. Intermittent renewables haven’t caused blackouts.

Finally, Thompson’s anti-renewable objectives violate his own core political principles. Thompson favors limited government, but wants to stop renewables with burdensome bureaucratic requirements and unnecessary regulations. He favors free enterprise, but would prevent renewables from competing in the marketplace. He favors capitalism, but denigrates renewable energy developers. He favors individual liberty, but would violate the personal property rights of willing landowners from leasing their land for a renewable project.

I’ve been a power engineer over 42 years, working closely on dozens of solar facilities since 2008. I know that with reasonable regulations, solar and wind farms can be built with minimal impacts to neighbors. My wife’s family owns farmland in Johnson and Douglas counties that they would like to lease for a solar farm. I urge county commissioners to rely on facts when establishing solar zoning regulations and to ignore misinformation from opponents.