Issue expected to resurface in Legislature

By Chris Green - Harris News Service - cgreen@dailynews.net"

TOPEKA - The Legislature's top two sitting Republican leaders say they want to resurrect efforts to clear the way for two coal plants in southwest Kansas during the next session.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who successfully vetoed legislation allowing the plants this past spring, said the governor would be disappointed to see the issue consume more of lawmakers' time during the 2009 session, which begins in January.

"Last session, legislative leaders hijacked what could have been a very production session - to the point that they sacrificed legitimate economic development initiatives," Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said in an e-mail. "To go through all of that again, instead of addressing the needs of Kansans, is inexcusable."

But Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, and House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said a state regulator's ruling that blocked the plants a year ago over global warming concerns is too flawed to let stand.

Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby said he couldn't ignore growing scientific evidence about the harm that would be done by 11 millions tons of carbon dioxide being emitted by the plants each year. Scientists have largely concluded that manmade CO2 is causing climate change.

Bremby relied on a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling deeming CO2 a pollutant and a state attorney general's opinion giving him broad authority to protect the environment and human health.

Supporters of Sunflower Electric Power Corp., the Hays-based utility partnering with out-of-state power providers on the project, say Bremby overstepped his authority because CO2 isn't presently regulated at the state or federal levels.

Neufeld believes Bremby's decision to nix the plants over global warming concerns threatens the health of an increasingly vulnerable Kansas economy.

"It is clear and it gets clearer the more I go out and visit with people around the state how important it is to get this issue resolved of regulatory uncertainty," Neufeld said during a recent interview. "I mean that clearly it is just a major impediment of any new development of any consequence in Kansas."

Morris believes the proposal from Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to add new coal plants to its existing Holcomb generator is vital to energy security for western Kansas and the state as a whole.

Because lawmakers don't know when Sunflower's legal challenge of the decision might make it before the Kansas Supreme Court, Morris said the ball will probably be back in the Legislature's court come January.

"We will address it some way, but it's yet to be addressed as far as the strategy we develop," Morris said. "There's a lot of interest around the state in trying to solve this. I would certainly like to develop a comprehensive energy policy for the state."

Practical project?

The extent to which the issue comes up next year could depend on the outcomes of legislative races across the state in the Nov. 4 election.

Lawmakers failed to override Sebelius' vetoes of bills allowing the plants by just a handful of votes and the election could alter that balance.

In addition, both Morris and Neufeld, who face no Democratic opposition next month, must win re-election to their leadership positions later this year. Neufeld faces a probable challenge from Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, who also supported paving the way for the coal plants.

Earl Watkins, the president and chief executive officer of Sunflower Electric, said he would expect the climate to be more favorable to concerns about Bremby's ruling, even if there isn't much of a change in the Legislature's composition.

"I think even if we had back exactly the same numbers, the public perception of the issue, I believe, is much more advanced," Watkins said. "They're much more aware about how the regulatory uncertainty and the unfairness of this ruling is directly impacting their lives from an energy perspective."

But Corcoran notes that since Bremby made his decision, things have been going well in Kansas. The state will nearly triple its production of wind power by the end of this year and is seeing multiple transmission lines projects in development for the first time in 30 years, she said.

"Since last October, we've added thousands of new jobs, recruited and retained new businesses, and issued 574 permits through KDHE, indicating that the Kansas economy is moving forward and our regulatory system is sound," she said.

Watkins said some of the 200 megawatts of power Sunflower would control from the twin, 700-megawatt generators is needed immediately to help the utility serve its customers and take costlier natural gas plants offline.

But Corcoran cites numbers compiled by the Kansas Energy Council that shows Sunflower doesn't need extra power in their service area until 2019.