Tag Archives: Earl Watkins
Review Makes Future of Kansas Coal-Fired Power Plant Unclear
By Karen Dillon for The Kansas City Star Sunflower Electric has a calendar problem. The company has only a year left to begin construction of its controversial coal-fired plant in western Kansas, but a legal challenge to the plant’s air-quality … Continue reading
“The Cleanest Coal Plant in the Country?” Not.
In fact, there are currently hundreds of coal plants in the country that are already emitting fewer harmful pollutants than the recent KDHE permit allows the proposed Holcomb 2 coal-fired unit to spew. Given the political tactics and misinformation used to advance this project, one wonders how many other claims in support of this coal plant are simply not true. Continue reading
Kansas Utility Exec to Retire
Earl Watkins Jr. said he’ll leave the top management job at Sunflower Electric Power Corp. in January 2012. Continue reading
Sunflower Electric’s Rush Job on Coal Plant
It seems that those making the accusations of “gaming the system” are the very ones doing the “gaming.” Efforts by elected officials and others to pressure KDHE are potentially illegal, certainly unethical, and at the very least undermine the responsibility of the agency to objectively and fairly conduct the regulatory process in the interests of the public. Continue reading
Coal’s Grip on Power Debated
The number of plants recently built and being built now represent just a fraction of the 151 total plants that the federal government had forecast several years ago. Allegrucci says that shows “coal as an electricity fuel is on the wane.” And while most of the coal plants have been canceled or put on hold, renewable energy sources have been developed at a record pace. Continue reading
Political Rhetoric Backfired
Ideologues tend to get their blinders on, and politicians like to pander to their base. That explains why State Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, sought and won a provision in the state budget to bar use of state money for implementing federal greenhouse gas regulations. Continue reading
