Tag Archives: Karl Brooks
Commonsense Environmental Rules Protect Kansas Families
Utilities serving more than 2 million Kansans have sued to block the EPA’s Cross-State rule. The power companies have threatened brownouts, rolling blackouts and targeted service interruptions to big industries. Kansans should know that in the EPA’s 40-year history, there have been no instances in which the Clean Air Act has contributed to electric grid reliability problems, and should any arise, the Clean Air Act gives us the tools to address them on a case-by-case basis. Continue reading
Fair Fight?
Whether people are opposed to or supportive of Sunflower’s coal-fired plant, the regulatory trail this project has traveled over the last four or five years raises questions and concerns. This is a contentious fight, but it doesn’t help KDHE or Kansas to be caught misrepresenting the facts of the case. Continue reading
EPA Says KDHE Not Honest About Permit Objections
An Environmental Protection Agency official has accused lawyers representing a Kansas agency of lying to the state Supreme Court about support for a permit that would allow a $2.8 billion coal-fired power plant to be built in southwest Kansas. Continue reading
KDHE Lied About Coal Plant Objections
Environmental Protection Agency officials say KDHE lawyers weren’t honest in written arguments last month when they said EPA had no objection to the Sunflower permit. Continue reading
EPA Spars with Kansas over Sunflower Coal-fired Power Plant
In their written arguments last month to the Supreme Court, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) attorneys may have told a stretcher. EPA has consistently told the state that the permit needed more stringent limits on certain pollutants and KDHE not only ignored EPA’s request to amend the permit to include the more stringent limits, but now is actually attempting to mischaracterize EPA’s position to the court. Continue reading
Kansas Sues EPA Over Order to Cut Interstate Emissions from Power Plants
By Gabriel Nelson for Greenwire (via The New York Times) The state of Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit against the Obama administration’s plan to clean up power-plant emissions that drift across state lines, saying that Kansas power plants were … Continue reading
Environmentalists Seek Moves on Kansas Coal Plant
By John Hanna for Associated Press (via The Wichita Eagle) TOPEKA, Kan. - Environmentalists demanded more aggressive action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency against a planned coal-fired power plant in southwest Kansas, telling a regional administrator on Tuesday that he’s … Continue reading
EPA Nets $3 Billion in Region
The EPA states that coal-fired power plants collectively produce more pollution than any other industry in the United States, accounting for nearly 70 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions each year and 20 percent of nitrogen oxides emissions. Continue reading
EPA Leader Pledges Fair Decision on Power Plant
EPA has not yet been party to the Sunflower controversy. That’s as it should be. Our U.S. Constitution shares federal and state responsibility to protect our nation’s air resource. Our keystone Clean Air Act assigns Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) initial responsibility to decide if Sunflower’s pollutants will damage Kansans’ health too much. But EPA will soon have to make some important legal decisions. And recent developments in Topeka and Washington, D.C., warrant a brief explanation of this agency’s duties if the Sunflower controversy hits my desk. Continue reading
Kansas lawmakers, federal regulators butt heads over greenhouse gas regulations
Federal environmental officials on Thursday urged Kansas to adopt greenhouse gas regulations, but some state legislators balked at the idea. Continue reading
