TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A new proposal for allowing two coal-fired power plants
in southwest Kansas emerged Monday from a House committee, only three days after
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a previous bill.
The new bill would put restrictions on the plants' carbon dioxide emissions
-- the first CO2 limits in state law. It also contains new provisions designed
to encourage increased use of wind energy.
But it also has the same provisions Sebelius opposed, including ones
stripping the secretary of health and environment of some power.
The Energy and Utilities Committee endorsed the new bill on a 10-7 vote,
sending it to the House for debate.
Supporters of the two coal-fired plants haven't been sure whether they would
try to override Sebelius' veto or pass another bill. The committee's action
Monday suggested supporters are still short of the two-thirds majority they need
to override a veto in the House.
"It was just another alternative," committee Chairman Carl Dean Holmes, a
Republican from Liberal, said of the new bill.
Sunflower Electric Power Corp. wants to build the two plants outside
Holcomb, in Finney County. The $3.6 billion project has bipartisan legislative
supportive. Many lawmakers see it as economic development and vital to meeting
the state's future power needs.
The fight over the Sunflower plant is one of many nationwide in which those
against the building of new coal plants are using a variety of tactics to slow
the industry's biggest construction boom in decades. The means of hindering the
plants range from lawsuits and administrative appeals against the companies to
lobbying pressure on federal and state regulators. An Associated Press tally
found that as of mid-January, at least four-dozen coal plants were being
contested in 29 states.
In October, Rod Bremby, the state secretary of health and environment,
denied an air-quality permit to Sunflower. Bremby cited the plants' potential to
produce 11 million tons of CO2 a year and said the state couldn't ignore the
dangers posed by global warming. Many scientists link man-made greenhouse gas
emissions to climate change.
Like the bill Sebelius vetoed, the new measure would allow Sunflower to
reapply for its permit and set rules that would require Bremby to approve it. It
also would prevent Bremby from imposing pollution standards that are tougher
than those imposed by the federal government, without legislative approval.
But the new bill includes the CO2 limits and sets specific standards for
sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide. Those rules would apply only to the new
plants, and Sunflower spokesman Steve Miller said the utility could live with
all of them.
"I don't know if this lessens my heartburn at all," said Rep. Joshua Svaty,
an Ellsworth Democrat who opposed the bill Sebelius vetoed.
Rep. Vaughn Flora, a Topeka Democrat who also opposed that first bill, said
under the new measure, the Legislature is essentially taking over the permitting
process where Sunflower is concerned.
Sebelius' office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Supporters of Sunflower's project have argued that Bremby's decision was
arbitrary because the state has no written rules on CO2.
Rep. Don Myers, a Derby Republican, said setting standards for Sunflower in
law represents a helpful precedent. "It would actually give the secretary
guidance in future permitting," Myers said.
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