Sedgwick County expected to join western Kansas group critical of species protection laws

The Sedgwick County Commission likely will join western Kansas, at least on environmental issues.

Commissioners will vote on the county becoming a member of the Kansas Natural Resource Coalition, a group of western Kansas counties that often criticizes federal environmental regulations. Joining the coalition will cost about $7,500.

Most commissioners say that state and federal regulations designed to protect threatened or endangered species are getting in the way of road and bridge projects in the county.

“We shouldn’t have problems related to doing critical and basic county functions,” commissioner Karl Peterjohn said.

The county tried to get the spotted skunk removed from the state’s threatened species list this year. Next year, it wants to lobby in Topeka to reduce the “regulatory burden” of endangered species listings, according to its draft legislative platform.

The coalition: The group is made up of about 20 county governments that stretch from central Kansas to the Colorado state line.

The group develops land use and conservation plans for member counties. It also researches ongoing federal regulation changes to inform commissioners in member counties.

The coalition is based in Oakley, in northwestern Kansas’ Logan County. It has a part-time executive director, Jim Carlson.

“We’re close to being able to pay full-time staff,” he said.

The organization is run day-to-day by five county commissioners from different counties. A policy committee with commissioners from all member counties meets three to four times a year, Carlson said.

The group’s leaders have testified before the Kansas Senate Committee on Natural Resources about conservation easements and lesser prairie chicken conservation.

County membership fluctuates. Some counties dropped membership after oil and gas tax revenue declined. As many as 32 counties were part of the coalition in its early stages.

The issues: The coalition started in March 2013 in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service weighing whether the lesser prairie chicken deserved more protection as a threatened species, Carlson said.

In Sedgwick County, regulations about the breeding season of the speckled chub, a freshwater fish, affected the construction schedule of a major bridge over the Arkansas River near Mount Hope during the middle of this year, said County Public Works director David Spears.

“We can’t be down in the water,” Spears said. “That’s kind of rough on us, because that’s a prime working time: summer, late spring and early fall.”

The MacArthur bridge road repair project near Spirit AeroSystems will also be affected by rules designed to protect the speckled chub, Spears said.

Carlson says federal rules have implications for state and local governments.

Gaining one of the state’s most populous counties as a member will help the group make its arguments and get support from other large counties, commissioner Jim Howell said.

Sedgwick County’s addition won’t control the tilt of the whole coalition, Carlson said. “They will have an influence on us, and it remains to be seen how,” he said.

The background: Sedgwick County plans to join the coalition after cutting its involvement with other groups this year.

It pulled out of the Regional Economic Area Partnership. It also quit its membership with the National Association of Counties. It cut its membership to the South Central Kansas Economic Development District during the 2016 budget process but may approve the membership fees Wednesday.

The cost: Coalition membership will cost the county $5,045 a year. It also must pay two one-time fees of $1,250 to participate in the coalition’s land use and conservation plans.

“This is a relatively inexpensive membership,” Howell said. “Let’s let these folks have a short leash and see how they do.”

The county had spent about $10,000 for membership in the National Association of Counties and about $35,000 for REAP.

Commissioner Dave Unruh questioned the use of property tax money for the membership.

“It’s just whether or not it’s a good investment of Sedgwick County mill levy money to be involved in an effort that’s primarily impacting southwest Kansas,” Unruh said.

What’s next: County commissioners will vote on the membership Wednesday. It’s on the consent agenda, mostly routine county business that gets approved with one vote.

The county would join the coalition on Jan. 1.

Peterjohn and commission Chairman Richard Ranzau said they like the coalition’s work against what they say are burdensome environmental regulations.

“They’ve organized because of unfunded mandates coming down from Washington,” Peterjohn said.

Unruh said he’s sympathetic to some of the group’s stances but that the county’s lobbyists are already active on endangered species listing issues. “I’m not sure that our membership is something that’s necessary for us.”

Howell said he views the membership as a trial run.

“I’m not quite sure how effective this is going to be,” Howell said. “My opinion was I’m willing to try it for a year and see how this goes and see if they can actually deliver on some of their goals we agree with.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County expected to join western Kansas group critical of species protection laws."