HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Work continues sifting through protest petitions that were presented to Reno County by landowners objecting to the NextEra project.

The county scheduled two meetings on Tuesday to address the protests but several legal issues surfaced and the time needed to study the legal information was too great.

County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan says the county received more than 250 petitions on the project. Out of that, about 40% have been deemed invalid due to the landowner not being eligible. Only landowners within 1000-feet of a property with a turbine are allowed to protest, according to O’Sullivan.

The petitions are being reviewed by O’Sullivan, County consultant Russ Ewy and the attorney representing Reno County Citizens for Quality of Life LLC.

O’Sullivan says the NextEra case also brings along many other scenarios. The County Attorney tells Hutchpost.com that he expects the issue to go to court regardless of how the county commission votes on the matter. “There is a lot invested in this,” O’Sullivan said. “We could see a lot of new case study that doesn’t exist.”

O’Sullivan says the legal issues could also set a precedent for future wind development in the state.

” A lot of other counties are looking at us that are in some phase of a similar project,” O’Sullivan added. He noted the legal issues could make it all the way to the supreme court depending on the outcome of this protest. If the protests are deemed valid the County Commission would have to vote 3-0 to approve NextEra’s conditional use permit for the wind farm. But as O’Sullivan said that would likely not be the final say.

The hearing for the NextEra project is tentatively set for Tuesday, June 11.