Kansas Senate Passes Coal Plant, RPS Standard

The Kansas Senate last week approved by a 37–2 vote an energy bill that will allow Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build a long-delayed coal-fired power plant near Holcombe.

The bill’s approval comes days after Kansas’ new governor, Mark Parkinson, and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. reached a compromise that would scale down the company’s plans to build two 700-MW coal plants and allow it to build the 895-MW plant in exchange for Republican support for a state bill that encourages production of more renewable energy.

Former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, had vetoed three state bills last year that would have allowed Sunflower’s two proposed coal plants to move forward. Sebelius was recently confirmed as President Obama’s secretary of health and human services.

Senate Substitute for House Bill 2369 strips the Kansas Department of Health and Environment of the power to go beyond federal rules when regulating emissions in Kansas.

It ends a two-year legislative battle, which erupted after the state’s health secretary, Roderick Bremby, backed by former Gov. Sebelius, refused to grant air quality permits to Sunflower Electric for the two 700-MW plants, citing elevated carbon dioxide emissions. Lawmakers had then contested that decision, saying that, because the state has no carbon dioxide standards, Bremby had overstepped his authority.

The Senate bill passed Thursday also contains renewable energy provisions sought by the governor, including a renewable portfolio standard that requires 10% of power sold by Kansas utilities to be produced by wind, solar, or other non-fossil fuels by 2010, 15% by 2015, and 20% by 2020. It would also allow customers to generate some of their own electricity and to sell their excess to their utility.

Sources: Kansas Senate, POWERnews