Kansas bill offering property tax breaks for wind farms fails in committee vote

"Another in a series of bills criticized as an effort to end development of wind farms in Kansas failed to make it out of committee Thursday. The bill was introduced by Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican and chairman of the Senate Utilities Committee, who has proposed a number of bills critics say are attempts to stymie renewable energy development dressed as efforts to protect rural Kansas.

In February, Thompson set aside an entire week of committee meetings to hear from skeptics of renewable energy and consider his bills. He later considered striking the testimony of one pro-renewable expert. The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee considered another one of his bills, which would end a property tax exemption for renewable energy facilities, this week.

Thompson told the committee the property tax exemption was created as an incentive when wind energy was new to Kansas. He argues it’s not anymore. 'We’re bending over backwards to subsidize these industries that are basically using our state as a giant electrical industrial revenue source until it becomes unprofitable,' Thompson said."