Before we start – KU plays Portland State in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at 11:25. K-State plays USC at 6:10.
Now that the important stuff is out of the way, let’s move on to -
Bleeding Kansas, take two. This time it’s not about states rights’ and slavery, it’s about coal. Hmm.
Folks outside of the state have noted that we are having a few differences of opinion over energy issues. The WSJournal was yesterday – and (yay!!) this link actually will get you to their Environmental Capital blog, which reprinted enough of the story for non-subscribers to read (thank you!). KDHE Secretary Bremby is featured prominently.
Today is the New York Times, which ends with a quote from Rep. Josh Svaty. Quotable from the article:
In the absence of clear federal mandates for emissions from smokestack industries, states that have been proving grounds for new environmental approaches to energy are becoming battlegrounds as well…
But politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. The national gridlock over climate-change policy has led to an ever-increasing number of state initiatives.
Currently 18 states seek to cap carbon dioxide emissions for industry and 25 support mandates for renewable energy; renewable-mandate legislative battles are under way in Ohio and Michigan. There are three multistate compacts intended to limit emissions and allow trading of carbon allowances; governors of 10 Midwestern states, including Ms. Sebelius, joined such a pact last fall.
The historian in me harks back to the Civil War (or even the much more recent debate over evolution, or the last century’s rise in conservative thought): Kansas has a long pattern of foreshadowing national debates. Which are often not carried out in the most civil tones of voice.
However, we also took an extra, what? twenty years? to repeal Prohibition, so we’re not always that ahead of the curve. Plus, while there are a few powerful government and industry factions really having at each other in a high-profile manner, what interests me more is the public. Which is not getting as much as attention, but I think is even more important.
I don’t think we should confuse leaders with followers, and I don’t think we should underestimate what everyday Kansans can bring to climate and energy discussions. There is no easy way out of these problems. The only ways forward can be found with hard-headed, pragmatic, common sense, guided by a strong sense of values grounded in not only community, but a sense of place.
And the best place in the world to accomplish that – as far as I am concerned – is Kansas.
Holy cow, I teared up. But I think part of that emotion does stem from basketball-related anxiety, too. I lose all that Midwestern pragmatism in a heartbeat when it comes to basketball.
Global warming deniers. Duane Schrag of the Salina Journal hit a home run yesterday with his lead on a story about climate change believers v. deniers: “Admit it, you’re not a scientist. So what you know about global warming came from someone else (please don’t say you made up your mind because you remember there being more snow when you were a kid, or, worse yet, because we had a really big ice storm this year).” Hilarity reigned in the CEP offices as we read parts of it to each other and squealed. We were an all girl scene yesterday, what can I say.
Smart grid being tested in Boulder by Xcel Energy. A smart grid is basically a grid that has the technology to communicate between producers and consumers through smart meters, etc., to accomplish better feedback and management of energy use. Naturally, this concept would get tested in Boulder, CO (MIT Technology Review). Quotable:
The project will equip homes with smart power meters that help people reduce demand when electricity is most expensive. Substations will also use information from the meters to automatically reroute power when problems arise. Among its other benefits, the project should help Boulder residents take better advantage of renewable power sources.
Smart grids cost, but, they also save. You probably get what you pay for. Fact of life, I’ve noticed.
Regulatory uncertainty, or…? Four legislators are saying that the KDHE decision caused a climate of regulatory uncertainty that cost Kansas a big oil refinery. Others are saying that that plant was slated to go into South Dakota four months before KDHE ever handed down its decision denying Sunflower Electric the air permit for the proposed Holcomb coal-fired plants (LJWorld). Hyperion has the air permits, land, and rezoning sewed up in South Dakota already.
The timing on this puzzled me a little. Ten minutes researching Hyperion on Google brought a little more light. Hyperion is privately owned. CEO Albert Huddleston is into Republican funding in a big way, most notably with his donations to the Swiftboat veterans that took on John Kerry in the last election (Reznetnews.org). CNN Money also reported that in his home state of Texas, Huddleston opposed the building of coal plants due to the mercury that they would spread through the environment.
