Climate and energy

This has been rumored, and the Hutch News asks the question straight out – is a new Holcomb bill in the wings?

Looks like there could be. SB 327, the original measure allowing Sunflower Electric to build its proposed 1400 MW coal-fired plant, is on the Governor’s desk and will probably be vetoed by the end of today. Apparently, supporters of the bill will try to wait until the last minute to go for an override, which probably means that it lacks the votes to make the override successful.

What new coal bill could possibly pass this legislature in a veto-proof fashion…? That is an excellent question. I am sitting here trying to figure that out myself. Just like SB 327 (and its companion HB 2066) its provisions are being drafted in secret (which wasn’t a really popular move the first time around), so, who knows. Supposedly, this new measure will be more green.

Hmm. Having sat through all the votes and conference committees, I have to say my impression was that a good chunk of our legislature did consider SB 327 to be green. Even edgily so. They gave it very reluctant support in some cases. However, that same bill struck other folks – quite powerfully – as not green at all, just green-washed, and barely so at that.

This is a pretty significant difference of opinion.

However, it could happen. Although I cannot imagine how in the world they could come up with a bill that offsets the eleven million tons of carbon dioxide that those plants would produce in one year, and also takes into account how those two plants would burden the entire state under a future scenario of carbon regulation, like cap-and-trade. I also don’t see how it can ever be okay to strip the Secretary of KDHE of his power to protect the health and environment of Kansas. I do think it is possible that the drafters could come up with a statewide energy solution, instead of a single bill tailored to one financially challenged company.

The Hutch article mentioned that the recent KDHE/ Westar agreement might be one potential model for a compromise. One significant difference between Westar and Sunflower Electric, though, is that Westar said they weren’t going to build any coal-fired generation in the near future, but rather were going to pursue energy efficiency and wind as a way to reduce and meet load growth until construction of baseload generation was more feasible.

Again, though, anything is possible. What is probable is that this fight will drag on till the last dang ditch. (And that SB 327 could also be hauled back out for an override vote at the last minute.) Quotable from the article:

Sunflower spokesman Steve Miller acknowledged there’s talk of another bill.

“That’s where it is at this point.”

The company won’t walk away if the governor vetoes the initial bill today, he said.

“We’ll be here till this place closes down.”

The thing is, with the Holcomb bill gumming up the works – this place has in effect already closed down. Forget health care reform, forget incentives for renewable energy, forget any other initiative – right now in Kansas, it’s all about coal.

— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org