It's not just a Cape Cod thing

The Flint Hills region in east-central Kansas is a mecca for wind developers, with strong winds and an already established transmission network, our correspondent Housley Carr reports. But it is also scenic, containing most of the "remaining Tallgrass Prairie that once covered much of the central United States," as the high court put it.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius in 2004 had asked developers not to put wind farms in the heart of Flint Hills. But some did sign contracts with landowners, and other landowners hoped to sign deals, too. After the Wabaunsee County ban was enacted, they sued, unsuccessfully.

The court still has some issues to hear: whether the ban is an unconstitutional "taking" of property rights and whether it violates the Commerce Clause. The latter has to do with the fact that the county's ordinance, while banning utility-scale facilities, does permit small turbines that "reduce onsite consumption of purchased utility power." Oral arguments on these points are set for January.

Meanwhile, on the Atlantic ... The Interior Department is supposed to issue a decision soon on the Cape Wind project that has been the object of celebrity-fueled opposition from Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, plus Native American tribes that claim the ocean vista as part of their cultural, spiritual heritage. The New York Times endorsed the project Monday: "Rejecting, even delaying it, would send a dispiriting message to other developers who are further behind Cape Wind," the Times said. "In Europe, wind farms are a familiar sight. If this country is going to do its part to address climate change, they must become more common, and welcome, here."