Location: Senate Chamber
Issue: Sunflower Electric’s proposed 1400 MW coal-fired plants at Holcomb
Bill No.: the measure will probably be considered as Sen Sub for HB 2919 – but it is the Senate’s version of SB 148, the second Holcomb bill, which the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee considered in an unscheduled meeting this morning
Summary/ Action: The senate version of the second Holcomb bill – the committee report on the bill was accepted by the body, but no further action was taken. The House version of the bill is high on the list for General Orders tomorrow.
Next steps: If the Senate passes this bill today, then it will await the House to pass its own version of the second Holcomb bill, SB 148 (that link takes you to CEP’s quick and dirty analysis). SB 148 has been mired in General Orders after its supposedly upgraded green provisions fell flat. CEP’s take: If by “green provisions” they mean carrots instead of sticks – and sticks have been Sunflower supporters’ dominant approach so far – then these carrots have been left in the back of the produce drawer way too long. Meaning, they are limp.
Metaphors aside. UPDATE: this all still holds true, even though the schedule is off by a day: Say the Senate passes this measure (which I imagine it will). Then the House would have to pass their version of the measure and take final action. Then the measure passes to conference committee. Since the regular session ends on Friday (thank heavens) the conference committee will be pretty zoom-zoom.
Then the House (and Senate?) would have to concur/ non-concur. If there is concurrence, the second Holcomb bill goes to the Governor to be signed or vetoed. Since it still retains all the provisions that got it vetoed the first time, odds are good that the second bill will get vetoed too.
Why two Holcomb bills? Remember that the first, SB 327, has been vetoed by the Governor. The Senate will probably vote to override it by the end of this week. The House will then have 30 days. However, having a second bill out there gives Sunflower Electric’s supporters two options during the veto session – and possibly for sine dei, which I spelled wrong and will explain later.
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We are now awaiting the Senate’s entry into the chambers – which was actually supposed to happen at 2:30, but is not yet. So I will take this lull to apologize to our readers… I have been too busy tracking coal drama to type up other live blogging notes! The ones from the carbon tax amendment attempt (??) should really not be lost to posterity. Nor should the ones from this morning’s Senate committee meeting.
But, they might be. And no news updates either. Sorry guys. And I have awesome wind notes from the Kingman wind forum, plus handouts and cool maps of transmission lines… news about more upcoming wind forums in Colby (April 14) and Phillipsburg (April 17), warnings about “lease hounds,” neato updates on energy efficiency, news about CEP appearing at various earth day events – but none of that will get up !!! until we slog through this next field of cow pies.
Sorry.
Anyway! Hit your refresh button now and again to check up on us. Remember the usual disclaimer of live blogging at the Kansas Statehouse: It could be a whole lot of nothing – or a whole lot of something. No way to tell.
We kick off. 2:52 p.m.
We mess around for a bit. Senate Utilities recommended 2919 for passage, but they are going to go through the General Orders first, ack. There is basic spatting on another topic, thinly disguised as very protocol-conscious speech – great! Everyone will be primed to take on energy issues in a calm, moderate, and non-confrontational manner, right?
3:35 p.m.
IMPACT bill, Boeing and Cessna and economic development, similar to another measure currently stranded in House. MH will not cover. Unless an amendment relevant to Sunflower Electric gets thrown in :)
4:23 p.m.
Nuthin.’ Wait! Sen. Huelskamp mentions coal plant, Holcomb, air permits, and Wichita.
H – If there is an abatement issue with CO2, this affects us in this county and the local districts. On CO2 emission issues, air permits, and the unwillingness for KDHE to issue permit on expansion on HOlcomb. This project has a big carbon footprint, was this discussed in your committee?
Sen. from JOhnson – this is not within our purview. That’s an unknown field.
H – this is critical. I dont see how ermit could be issued today with the KDHE uncertainty at issue right now. We have created uncertainty in legislature by not overriding veto. Governor is still telling Cessna and other CO2 emitters that they have to emit zero, so, this is just a waste of time, us trying to attract business. We should let free enterprise work, anyway, instead of these proposals. Can Cessna actually get an air permit approved for this plant? If we don’t have an answer, can they receive the cash payments before air permit issued?
Sen from Johnson – we have already sent strong message from this body that we don’t want the Sunflower travesty to take place again.
H – I guess there is no answer. We just don’t know. We never expected CO2 emissions to matter here, so maybe we are wasting our time.
Sen from Johnson – there is no definition for carbon footprint in scientific literature, so hard to figure out something so vague and undefined.
MH – however. Greenhouse gas inventories are entirely possible – from scales of an individual’s emissions, to those of large corporate entities. In fact, it is part of Governor Sebelius’s executive order forming the environmental policy group to do exactly this.
4:34 p.m. That last bit by Senator Huelskamp was just evidently just a potshot, not a prelude to any immediate development, ie (1) veto override attempt, and/ or (2) Senate discussion of their version of the second Holcomb bill.
4:54 p.m. Nothing! It looks like SB 148 is coming up first in General Orders before the House tomorrow. We are ping-pong-ing back and forth between chambers, across the Rotunda of the Capitol. Which would be a lot more fun if we could set a ropes course up to traverse (or bungee) across it, rather than be conventional and walk around.
What am I saying? I would never bungee on, off, across, or around anything.
5:15 p.m. And I’d have been out of here hours ago if there weren’t more energy lobbyists in here than flies on – on – on honey. Or on whatever else it is that flies like.
And what’s a parasite that lives on flies, and follows them around? Whatever it is, I guess that’s me.
5:28 p.m. Finally on to the last bill on General Orders. Could go slow, could go fast. Went fast.
5:48 p.m. Emergency provisions declared for certain measures. Not 2919. They are discussed and passed, pretty much. Including one that would prohibit officials from seizing firearms during emergencies… MH: the second amendment doesn’t do that…? Ie, in Greensburg, officials took citizens firearms away. Sen Huelskamp said this happened. I think the point of this bill is that nothing justifies taking your guns away, you always have the right to bear arms, even after a tornado.
But that’s just a sidearm – I mean side note. Hey, law enforcement testified against this bill in its first incarnation, interesting. Evidently after the tornado, sidearms were scattered around with all the other debris. So law enforcement picked them up. They’d like that act – picking random guns off the street – not to be considered unlawful seizure. I get that. They also want you to bring ID to reclaim them, so guns don’t get stolen. Seems reasonable.
Not about climate and energy issues. Sorry. But I am interested in guns, and in natural disasters. I guess it’s a Kansas thing. Not that I would put them together, necessarily, but I guess you never know about that until it happens. However, KBI is still not cool with this bill, neither are a few other law enforcement agencies.
6:13 p.m. The Dorothy-get-your-guns bill will pass, but a fair amount of senators passed on voting on it.
6:30 ish. And…. we’re outta here! And… no 2919! the committee report from this morning was approved, but it did not get emergency’d into General Orders.
Adjourned. See you all tomorrow.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
