In 2023 I co-wrote the new KS GOP Energy Resolution with former Representative Dennis Hedke, Geo-Physicist and House Energy Chair that was passed by the KS GOP Delegates from across the state. Here is the Energy Resolution on the KS GOP site.
When I started door knocking in 2022 while on the campaign trail, I was informed on my constituents front porches, that big energy was trying to invade rural Douglas County. This started my journey educating myself on the negatives of industrial scale wind and solar in rural communities, which was a problem all over Kansas, all over the USA, and across the globe.
The list of problems is extensive. There are hazardous materials that make up wind and solar units, yet, there is NO policy for this risk! No FEMA, no SEMA, no KSDE, no federal lawn no state law, and nothing local. The only thing we have is EPA guidance on the disposal.
Not sure how you feel about massive wind turbine blades stacking up and or being buried in your state, but it is a problem. Recycling of the wind blades is immature in development, so that is still not a viable solution.
So in 2022 I introduced a budget proviso that would be a comprehensive independent third party study looking at the health and safety of wind turbines, solar array, hydrogen hubs, and transmission lines. The study passed the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Budget Committee, however, it did not pass the House Appropriations Budget Committee. The fact that Kansas denied a comprehensive study has been used successfully as a reason counties are NOT approving industrial scale wind and solar. This is as WIN!
However, I wanted to do more to help property owners across Kansas, and that is when I came up with the idea of writing a KS GOP Energy Resolution. I knew immediately I needed to do this with Dennis Hedke as he is an asset for our state with the knowledge he has in this area. This is what we wrote that was approved:
Kansas Republican Party ENERGY Resolution
Adopted September 30, 2023
Whereas Kansas families, businesses, and institutions require dispatchable, reliable, efficient energy, provided by the most cost effective, market-driven means possible;
Whereas the energy and power markets in Kansas have been seriously distorted by the 2009 Kansas Legislature mandates, despite attempts to moderate the mandates by legislation passed in 2015;
Whereas the primary driver of the legislation passed in 2009 was based on seriously flawed assumptions, namely, the colorless, odorless, essential atmospheric gas, carbon dioxide, CO2, has materially contributed to global temperature increases, due primarily to human activities;
Whereas abundant data shows these assumptions to be without merit and false. The best available evidence indicates that the contribution of human activities to moderate global temperature increases is approximately 1%1 ;
Whereas it is incumbent upon us to elevate the truth, to act in accordance with credible factual data from a multiplicity of sources that unequivocally refute the assumptions that have dominated federal legislation, rulemaking, and policymaking, which have resulted in irresponsibly subsidizing predominantly foreign-sourced ‘renewable’ wind and solar technologies as a solution for climate change;
Whereas the United States, including Kansas, must change course, as it relates to policymaking in the Energy Sector. This ‘change of course’ needs to deny any attempts to ‘fast-track’ irresponsible movements away from historically stable, market-tested, and technologically superior energy and power delivery and towards unreliable and foreignsourced technologies that imperil our economic and national security;
Whereas irrefutable evidence demonstrates that ill-health effects to mankind and the environment are occurring due to the side effects of industrial scale wind installations. These occurrences are widespread, wherever these installations have been constructed;
Therefore, be it resolved, the Republican Party of Kansas, in view of the preponderance of evidence, will support candidates and legislative intent regarding energy policy that will serve to provide protection to our citizens security, physical health, financial health, access to reliable energy and property rights across all Kansas counties.
Submitted by: Representative Carrie Barth, Kansas House of Representatives District 5 and Dennis Hedke, Dennis Hedke Consulting, Geophysicist, and former Kansas House Energy & Environment Committee Chair
1. Koonin, S. Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters (2021)
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