A slightly right of center political base (yet the home of populism).
The state with the third best wind resource (they argue about coal).
Folks are talking about using the state as a transmission corridor.
Before that it was I-70 and I-35.
Before that, well it seemed like folks were just passing through (cover via Kansas State Historical Society):
If you remember your history, Kansas territory extended west to the peaks of the Rockies. Here's a NYT headline from 1859:
The Gold Excitement in Kansas.
It was a major, 1100 word story. Here's another, 1243 words:
THE KANSAS GOLD MINES.; How to Get to Pike's Peak, and What You Will Find on Getting There.
From Kansas' own Climate + Energy Project blog:
KCStar: “Renewable energy brings modern-day gold rush”
Renewable development, manufacturing – and now, research. Some Midwestern entities, such as MRI in Kansas City, are looking at the renewables research example of NREL, in Colorado. From the Star, by Jason Gertzen:
GOLDEN, Colo. | Dreams of renewable energy riches have set off a scramble not seen since miners rushed into these surrounding hills in search of shiny nuggets.
“This is like a land rush with a whole bunch of people running side by side,” said David Christensen, one of the gurus of new electricity technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the Colorado foothills.
The winners, he said, will find “huge pots of gold at the end.”
Publish PostKansas and Missouri leaders are joining many other states scurrying to stake claims in the energy gold rush....MORE
