Proposed Evergy electric transmission line would only hurt Kansas | Opinion
As a Kansas rancher, I am writing to sound the alarm on Evergy’s proposed 133-mile, 345 kilovolt Buffalo Flats transmission line. This project, currently before the Kansas Corporation Commission, represents a profound threat to our state’s heritage, economy and environment.
First, the Buffalo Flats project stinks of an insider deal. Unlike most major infrastructure, this $500 million project was not put out for public bid. On other Kansas projects, competitive bidding for transmission lines has realized savings of 40%. By bypassing this process, Kansas ratepayers are potentially left on the hook for hundreds of millions in unnecessary costs.
Second, Evergy’s approach demonstrates a blatant disregard toward Kansas’ natural treasures. In public testimony, Evergy’s representatives stated that they do not believe the Flint Hills should be treated as a protected ecosystem. This is a direct affront to the reality that less than 4% of the world’s original Tallgrass Prairie remains, with the majority of that vestige located right here in Kansas. Evergy’s plan to bisect this “last stand” with 133 miles of steel towers and millions of pounds of concrete would cause permanent, irreparable damage.
Finally, the project serves as a scheme to export Kansas energy while leaving us with the bill. This line would take wind-generated electricity from Kansas — infrastructure that arguably violates Gov. Laura Kelly’s moratorium on wind development in the Flint Hills — and send it directly to Oklahoma and Missouri. Shockingly, this line would deliver no power to the Kansas counties it traverses. While Kansas ratepayers are being asked to pay 16.5% of the $2.2 billion cost for this regional project, our state would receive no material benefit.
The bottom line is that Kansas politicians are all too willing to give corporations eminent domain to send Kansas wind energy to states that are building data centers. Kansans should not have to sacrifice their property and their heritage for the benefit of other states and corporations such as Evergy. Please join me in contacting your state representatives or contact the commissioners directly and ask them to protect the Flint Hills and Kansas ratepayers and deny this unreasonable application.
Vance Freeman splits his time between his family’s cow-calf operation outside Cedar Vale, Kansas, and his oil and gas law practice in Longview, Texas.