Sunflower Electric Power Corp. recently filed suit against Kansas Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson for denying approval for two new massive coal-fired power plants near Holcomb. Sunflower claims that it has been unfairly singled out compared with other sources of carbon dioxide in the state. It is mistaken.
Bremby’s decision was based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that may be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Extensive precedents in the law allow the strictest treatment of large sources of a regulated pollutant. Coal-fired power plants, and Sunflower’s proposal to build a 1,400-megawatt coal plant, are in a class by themselves.
One of the largest such projects currently proposed in the United States, the Holcomb expansion would emit some 11 million tons of carbon dioxide per year for the next 50 to 75 years. That extends almost to the end of this century, when scientists predict western Kansas will be suffering from severe drought conditions caused by substantially higher temperatures than today. This is one of the many projected consequences of global warming if we continue to allow uncontrolled sources to emit heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
No other projects have been presented to Bremby for permitting that even remotely rival the scale of the Holcomb project.
Kansas officials are not alone in opposing new coal-fired coal plants. Other states have seen the writing on the wall and are briskly moving in the right direction. In fact, just this week the Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative announced that it would defer plans for a coal plant and instead pursue plans for wind power and natural gas. In the past two years, 83 coal plants have been canceled, abandoned or put on hold.
Clearly, coal-fired power plants are a risky move, and that’s why other states are rejecting them.
Public officials should be allowed to protect the citizenry without feeling threatened for doing so. The Clean Air Act grants the states authority to consider the potential impacts of pollutants that may pose a problem, whether or not the local rules have been finalized.
Bremby was appointed by Sebelius to protect the health and environment of Kansas, which is precisely what he did. Our public servants have acted responsibly, correctly and well within their authority.
While a judge hears arguments today in this case, our state Legislature is renewing efforts to pave the way for the Holcomb expansion, which failed to gain approval last year. Rather than fighting to lock us into outdated fossil-fuel technology that threatens the future of our children and grandchildren, Sunflower and our Legislature should move on.
Frank Drinkwine of Overland Park is the Chairman of the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club
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