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Backers of coal-fired plants question Westar deal
TOPEKA, Kan. (The Associated Press) - Mar 5 - By JOHN HANNA Associated Press Writer
Some legislators drafting the final version of a bill dealing with coal-fired power plants are skeptical of an agreement between the state and its largest electric company to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The deal between Westar Energy Inc. and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment doesn't set specific targets for Westar to meet in cutting its greenhouse gas emissions. But it does commit Westar to monitoring those emissions and proposing ways to reduce them.
On Tuesday, several legislators questioned the agreement and the timing of the deal, which the department announced Friday. House and Senate negotiators are close to finishing work on energy legislation.
That legislation would allow a different utility, Sunflower Electric Power Corp., to build two coal-fired plants in southwest Kansas. The $3.6 billion project has been blocked since October by KDHE Secretary Rod Bremby over concerns about the plants' potential CO2 emissions.
Sunflower and its backers argue that the Westar-KDHE agreement shows that businesses can't predict how the state will regulate air pollution and greenhouse gases linked by many scientists to global warming. They also worry that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' administration is trying to undercut support for the energy bill.
"I think it's political," said Sen. Janis Lee, a Kensington Democrat, one of six negotiators writing the final version of the energy bill.
The state has no rules on greenhouse gas emissions. Bremby said he hopes to persuade utilities and other businesses to voluntarily reduce CO2 emissions.
"I can't see where voluntary reductions is a bad thing," said KDHE spokesman Joe Blubaugh. "Any time we can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and our air pollutants, that would be a good thing."
The energy bill negotiators - three senators and three House members - planned to meet Wednesday morning to continue their talks.
Both chambers already agree Sunflower should be allowed to build its plants outside Holcomb, in Finney County.
Both also agree on prohibiting the KDHE secretary from enacting new air-quality standards that are tougher than those imposed by the federal government without legislative approval. Such a mandate would prevent Bremby from writing CO2 rules without lawmakers signing off first - and both chambers have rejected proposed emissions standards.
Sebelius strongly objects to provisions limiting the secretary's power, and the negotiators expect her to veto any bill sent to her.
Supporters of Sunflower's project hope to pass a bill with two-thirds majorities in both chambers, the margin they would need to override a veto. The Senate approved an energy bill last month, 33-7, giving supporters six more votes than they needed. But the House's vote on its own bill was 77-45, leaving supporters seven votes short of a two-thirds majority.
And the Westar-KDHE agreement added a new wrinkle to the ongoing debate about Sunflower's project.
Lee and other Sunflower supporters said if Bremby tries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary agreements with individual companies, the state won't have a consistent policy on CO2 - or even written standards.
"It's very troubling," said Brian Moline, a former utility regulator who is now chairman of a group called the Alliance for Sound Energy Policy. "We've got separate and unconnected agreements based on no standards that anybody knows, except whatever comes at the moment. And the rule of law is the antithesis of that."
Also, KDHE announced its deal with Westar the same day it announced Bremby had approved a construction permit allowing Westar to upgrade pollution controls on three coal-fired plants making up its Jeffrey Energy Center, about 30 miles northwest of Topeka.
Rep. Carl Dean Holmes, a Republican from Liberal who is the House's chief negotiator, questioned whether Westar's agreement with Bremby was voluntary.
"It's obvious to me that he extracted an agreement on CO2," Holmes said, "before he would sign the construction permit."
Westar spokeswoman Karla Olsen said the utility agrees the state's regulatory climate needs to be more certain, but added that Westar's agreement with KDHE "gives us enough certainty to run our business."
"We try to be ahead of the game and be good environmental stewards," she said.
Blubaugh acknowledged KDHE wanted to "package" the announcement of the agreement with the announcement of the approval of Westar's permit.
But he added: "The permit was not predicated on the agreement. We were going to issue the permit no matter what."
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Energy legislation is Senate Sub for HB 2066 and House Sub for SB 327.
On the Net:
Kansas Legislature: https://www.kslegislature.org
Department of Health and Environment: https://www.kdheks.gov/
Westar Energy: https://www.westarenergy.com
Sunflower: https://www.sunflower.net