A message from GPACE Director Scott Allegrucci:

Last week we let you know about the KU Energy Council’s 2nd Annual Conference on November 18th at the Dole Institute of Politics, and the questionable inclusion of Sunflower Electric Power Company representatives in an unbalanced panel discussion on emerging technologies. We asked the council to include at least one expert on native Kansas fuel sources (we suggested natural gas or wind) to create balance, and have now been told that no changes to the agenda can be made. So, as it sits, there is no credible expertise on cleaner, cheaper, or renewable Kansas fuel technologies.

We received confirmation from the event organizers that after each hour-long presentation by utility representatives, the audience will have 10-15 minutes to ask questions. If Sunflower Electric is as fast and loose with the facts as they have been in the past, 10 minutes isn’t much time to set the record straight. If you are planning to attend the conference, please come prepared to ask concise questions – particularly about the following:

• “Holcomb 2 will be a ‘clean coal’ facility” (though there is no such thing)
• “The energy from Holcomb 2 is needed in Kansas” (though almost all of it will be owned by and sent to out-of-state utilities)
• “Kansas needs the jobs from Holcomb 2″ (though Sunflower has revised downward their long-term job projections from over 200 to around 50)
• Sunflower is already hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to US taxpayers for a loan they can’t repay from their first coal plant.
• Holcomb 2 will sit on one of the most productive natural gas fields in the country, in one of the windiest regions of the country, and will pay Wyoming hundreds of millions of Kansas ratepayer dollars for imported coal.
• While utilities around the nation are diversifying their energy portfolios in response to pending carbon valuation, customer demand, and cost management, why is Sunflower investing even more heavily in coal?

Representatives from KU have indicated that the public is welcome, but that space is limited – so please register if you plan to attend. They have also indicated that they welcome input from the public, and we take them at their word.

Sunflower Electric and their allies have already hijacked two legislative sessions to force a bad business proposal on Kansas ratepayers and citizens, and they’ve spent millions and millions of dollars on misinformation to spin that effort. Enough is enough. Don’t let big coal interests co-opt the University of Kansas.

Hope to see you there.

Scott Allegrucci, Director