Kansas energy, environment, and conservation: a geological overview

Abstract

The State of Kansas, as an energy-producing and agriculture-based state, faces problems in production of natural resources and potential pollution from their production. To coordinate information on the exploration, production, and use of coal, nuclear, petroleum, natural gas, hydro, wind, geothermal, coalbed methane, biofuel, solar, and other energy resources, the Kansas Energy Council and the University of Kansas Energy Research Center were created. Water, surface and subsurface, is the other important and maybe the most important natural resource in the welfare of the state. To ease the problems of contamination, situations are monitored by regulatory agencies: the Kansas Corporation Commission, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and Division of Water Resources of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) at the University of Kansas serves as the archive for energy and natural resource data and conducts research pertinent to the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, including energy and water. The Kansas Energy Research Center coordinates and supports energy activities. The Kansas Water Office and the staff for the Kansas Water Authority are charged with water planning and preparing reports on water problems and possible solutions. The cost of preserving the environment in a relatively pristine state really is of no concern considering the possible consequences; living conditions should be preserved to assure future generations, a suitable, sustainable, stable environment. With all the dire predictions for the future and energy-producing and pollution problems, Kansas is a model state in this modern industrial age for protecting the environment and is a leader in conservation.