Dear editor: 

In a short time, the voices and votes of the Sumner County Commissioners will help determine the future of my community. They serve all of Sumner County and bear a heavy responsibility. Their decisions should be made for the good of everyone, not at the expense of some to line the pockets of a few.

Many of the individuals profiting from projects like the NextEra wind, solar, and battery energy storage (BESS) facilities that now surround my home and community are not the same people who live here or who will remain once the long-term impacts are felt. The money generated by these projects is not being spent in Sumner County.

Meanwhile, families like mine who continue to live here receive no benefit commensurate with the changes to our quality of life and are left to bear the long-term risks and consequences.

When projects are pushed primarily for the benefit of a large corporation and a small number of landowners, the long-term viability of towns like Oxford is put at risk. My generation is not willing to quietly accept changes that may diminish our home, permanently alter our landscape, or place our children’s health and safety at risk without clear, demonstrated benefit to the broader community.

We need our elected officials to hear our voices.

As the commissioners prepare to vote, Oxford residents are asking for clear answers:

What specific jobs will this project create for Sumner County residents, and how long will those jobs last?​

How will this project improve local energy access or rates, and what evidence supports those claims?​

What research, independent of what NextEra has provided, has the Board of Commissioners reviewed regarding environmental, health, and safety risks related to fire, chemical exposure, and shallow groundwater, and has that information been made publicly accessible?​

What revenue will this project generate for the county, and how will those funds directly benefit communities like Oxford?​

Will residents increasingly surrounded by NextEra projects receive any direct benefits, or will impacts be borne without corresponding gains?​

How will the county hold this company accountable for long-term health, safety, and environmental protection, and are those accountability measures legally enforceable?​

Finally, how will this project improve the quality of life for all Oxford residents, not just a small number of landowners, rather than contribute to its decline?

I ask the commissioners to put themselves in our place and consider whether they would vote yes to a BESS in their own backyard, where their children, grandchildren, and neighbors would live with the consequences.

Our children did not choose this risk. Our community did not ask to bear it. Leadership means protecting the people who will live with the outcome of this decision every day. This corner of the county depends on its elected officials to act with transparency and commitment to the generations of families who call Oxford home.

As the December 30 vote approaches, I urge the commissioners to provide clear answers to these questions and to vote with the safety, health, and future of all members of Sumner County in mind.

Will they approve a project over the clearly communicated objections of the families who will live with it every day?

Casi Short​

Oxford, KS​