Climate and energy

Location: Kansas Capitol, Topeka KS - mainly the House Chambers
Issue: Sunflower Electric’s proposed 1400 MW of coal-fired generation, and the role of the KDHE Secretary in protecting Kansans’ health and environment

Bills/ Legislative Action:

- At 9:00 a.m. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to make an official response to Sunflower Electric’s proposed compromise of 1200 MW. Press only is allowed into the room. CEP is not press. We will just stand outside and listen really, really hard.
- At 10:00 a.m., the legislature convenes. We await a possible veto override vote on SB 327, the first Holcomb bill.
- Also in play is SB 148, which awaits veto override attempts by both House and Senate.
- A new trailer bill on the Sunflower issue has been introduced into the Senate - we only have a summary available so far. NUmber - Senate Substitute for House Bill 2802.
- Today is also Pack The Capitol - when Kansas citizens can come show support for the Governor’s veto, as well as for clean energy in Kansas.
- If you have only recently come to this issue, check out CEP’s FAQ’s on the Kansas Coal Controversy.
- If you would like to contact your legislators, here’s the House roster and Senate roster. For how the House members voted the last time coal legislation came to the floor, please check here.
- Please hit your refresh button during the day to check for updates.
- 99.9% of this entry is hidden below the surface - be sure to hit the “read the rest of this entry” link to see the full, er, glory

Summary/ Action: (To be filled in later) SB 148 has been overridden in the Senate. A new trailer bill has been introduced in the Senate. The House adjourned with no action on any energy bill. The Senate has passed a new trailer bill for the coal plants - Sen Sub for HB 2802.

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Hi all. Welcome back. We had a break that didn’t feel much like a break, and now - here we are again. Yay. Today the Kansas legislature begins its wrap-up session (also known as the veto session). CEP’s plan is same as usual - hang out at the Capitol, wait for something energy-related to happen in the Kansas policy debate, then write it up and post it on the internet.

Mind you, there’s lot going on besides the coal issue. Budget, abortion, health care, immigration, etc. For the coal-focused, there will probably be long spells of ho-hum. I apologize for that in advance.

How long will all this last? In a surprise move, opinions radically differ. Supposedly, the wrap-up session is scheduled for four days. However, some glumly expect to be held here until sine die on May 29 - the day the final gavel falls and the legislature closes its 2008 session.

Other factors that might influence the length of the wrap-up session - this is an election year. This fall, all 165 seats in the House and Senate will be up for re-election. The filing deadline is June 10. The longer legislators spend in Topeka arguing about coal, the less time they have to plan campaigns. President Bush is soon scheduled to visit Greensburg, which was leveled by a tornado almost one year ago.

Last, House Speaker Melvin Neufeld has in the past shown himself to be a conscientious steward of taxpayer dollars. It is unlikely that he wants to spend the funds to hold legislators in Topeka for too long.

What in the world is going to happen? From the insane volume of totally contradictory rumors flying around, and the many bright shiny bluffing smiles that are pasted over clenched teeth, my guess would be that no one really knows for sure.

“Right now, this is the best spectator sport in Kansas,” one wise soul told me. “So everybody’s talking. Everyone wants to get on the record for making the right prediction, too, so they’re all saying a lot of broad and totally opposite things.”

And then there’s the people whose “oh dear” button is just flat broke, because it’s been pressed too many times over the past months. They’ve got the votes! Oh dear. We don’t have the votes! Oh dear.

When that button breaks, the result is a lot of people - on all sides of the debate - who have pretty much had it with drama. I just watched this happen - one person just scurried up to another, told them something fairly high-voltage (if true) - and that person merely said, “Yeah?”

We’ll all find out at about the same time, I suppose.

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Governor Sebelius has rejected Sunflower Electric’s proposed compromise. She did so before a standing room only crowd of legislators, lobbyists, and press, while members of the public thronged the hallways outside her office.

CEP had sneaked into the press room, and while I am sure that the folks outside were only talking in normal tones, the roar was audible inside. I doubt I got good quality audio.

Her statement is not yet posted on the web, but when it is you can find it here. EDIT: here is better. If you like really crummy audio (in Windows Media format, no time to rip it to mp3, sorry sorry), click here. If that link is broken, someone please email me and let me know.

Of course, since this is Kansas, the whole experience was all very polite. This holds true for also the crowds of veto supporters who are now lining the Capitol halls and the entrance to the House chamber. Today is also Pack the Capitol.

The Capitol is indeed packed. I nearly had a heart attack at all the folks. If I had voted for the coal plants, I don’t know how comfortable I would feel walking into the House chambers this morning - the veto supporters have the prime spots, where everyone can see them.

Those in favor of overriding the veto(es) are here as well. So are school - CRACK goes the gavel, we come to order. Here it goes.

OK. My favorite part of the prayer (which precedes the Pledge of Allegiance) was a quote from one of my favorite country music songs - “You’ve got stand for something or you’ll fall for anything” (Aaron Tippin!) - right before a quote from a psalm whose number I didn’t catch, my bad.

Everyone who was standing outside the Chambers has now flooded into the House Gallery, the upper observation deck. It can probably seat about 200. It is past capacity, standing room only, all ages, all walks of life. People have to stand outside.

My personal favorite citizen of the day is going to be the seven month old redheaded little boy baby (being bounced to hush him up), about ten feet to my left. He has a “clean energy” sticker across the back of his onesie.

I have no idea what it’s like over in the Senate. Murphy’s Law alert - a past capacity crowd in the House usually means something will happen in the Senate. FYI, the House is now doing ceremonial things now. I just saw extra security up here in the Gallery. I bet there’s extra in the halls as well.

Now the wait begins, for them to get to energy issues. Many grunchy non-energy lobbyists have been hoping that the energy stuff goes first, so then they can work THEIR bills. There will be a recess in the House, from 1:00-2:30, it looks like.

If you get bored, go wander around the internet for a while. Or read why CEP thinks the KS legislature is a lot like the American Royal. (For those of you who have no idea what that is, it’s a major stock show and horse show.)

Health care is out of the box first. There appears to be some significant disagreement, in particular over children’s insurance (related to SCHIP, a federal program). Ie, there’s no money for it, but, the kids still get sick. Division vote. Roll call. Conference committee report of agree to disagree passes, in effect stymy-ing the bill.

Still bored? Worried about the rising prices of food and fuels, and the connections between fossil fuels and your pantry? Then try this NYTimes article about the high price of fertilizer - especially when it comes to nitrogen, a very valuable fertilizer which is synthesized from fossil fuels.

It looks like we have a nitrogen paradox. We need nitrogen to feed our current population, yet that population can no longer afford the price of food grown with the chemical, and our environment cannot sustain any higher levels of nitrogen run-off.

The Climateer blog has looked extensively at the market forces involved, and their volatility. High fuel and food prices do mean high profits for food and fuel producers. Also note a difference between the two - in the case of food producers, that production line has a lot - a lot - of middlemen in between the farmer and the consumer. Farmers who bear the high input prices of the fertilizer are not necessarily reaping the profits of high food prices.

Although, as a recent NPR story on western Kansas discusses, farmers who also have oil and gas interests are doing much better recently.

11:12 The majority made a quick motion to suspend rules for a huge number of conference committee reports (not really that unusual for a wrap-up session this packed, I don’t think). The minority said, er, can we find out exactly what bills are involved? Majority said sure. They work it out.

11:30 Anti-stalking bill passes unanimously. Yay.

11:25 - House recess till 2:30.

12:17 Senate is holding a vote to override the Governor’s veto on SB 148. Everyone is saying pretty much the same things they have about five times previous, so CEP is not recording comments. I will note that there is a new dimension in the debate - the Governor’s comments on base load from her statement this morning, and how the Sunflower compromise doesn’t even offer western Kansas the minimum base load it actually needs.

NEWS FLASH - there is another trailer re Sunflower being attached to a bill for later today. Download HERE. I will summarize later, but the main thing I noticed when glancing over the proposal - what is being proposed skirts perilously close to illegal.

I say that because I have immense respect for the authority of FERC and SPP, and this bill appears to infringe on that authority.

Basically, the new legislation allows for Sunflower to sell an additional 200 MW (of the 1400 MW, only 200 MW of which was coming to KS) to another Kansas utility. This is targeted to BPU, in Wyandotte County. The Wyandotte County delegation, of course, has refused to vote yes on the coal plants, and if they swing, the Governor’s veto can be overridden.

Basically, the provisions would put a power purchase agreement into law. Normally these are very involved deals negotiated between utilities, not legislated as a matter of statute. The deal is also very much like one that BPU (which is a public utility, and has a very involved board of directors that oversees their business very closely) refused a while back.

None of that is the big issue. The big issue - there are no existing transmission lines that can connect power plants in western Kansas to power plants in eastern Kansas. Such lines will cost billions, which will make that power very expensive, and they will take a very long time to build - but those are side issues.

The point is - who gets to say where transmission lines can go? FERC and SPP. Kansas entities do not have authority over transmission. They can apply for permission to build lines, but there are lots of hoops to jump through. One of the criteria is that those lines be affordable, compared to other proposed lines (and right now with wind development, KS has many proposed lines).

This new legislation allows to promise that they will deliver this product through an extremely expensive system that does not even exist yet, and that surely they can have no assurances that can be built.

Surely not.

OTHER ISSUES WITH THE NEW SUNFLOWER LEGISLATION:

- As always, it contains nothing to offset the enormity of the carbon dioxide emissions - whether it is eleven million tons, or 9.5. million tons, that’s a lot of carbon.

- It still removes the authority of the KDHE Secretary to protect health and environment of Kansans, although it sunsets the provision in 2011 hey, is that when Sebelius leaves office? Must be a coincidence.
EDIT: simply must record a funny joke I heard on this point - one reporter cracked: “You mean when the Brownback administration begins?”
- Again, Sunflower proposes to up its percentage of renewable resources - but the amount is based on their CURRENT generation portfolio, NOT what their portfolio would be if they built an additional 1400 MW of coal power. Nor is there any enforcement mechanism if they do not comply.
- The provision on requiring the KS Regents institutions to respond to legislative requests for technology evaluations is - a little weird. I’m not unfamiliar with academia, and I am struggling to imagine how department chairs will farm out these requests, or find the funds to respond
- The weatherization provision is neat, but that can be a stand alone bill. Energy efficiency has growing support in this state.
- Systems benefit charge on all meters in the state - not that I see anything wrong with this, but - um - surely the KCC would like to be involved in a decision of that magnitude? Or the Citizens Utilities Ratepayers Board? This is kind of a big deal to shoe horn in at the last minute. And I think a lot of people would have differing opinions on the proposed distribution of these funds. Just a thought. Plus which - how much money is that, really?

See.. This is all why we need a comprehensive energy policy discussion in Kansas. Doing it this way is a little bit like getting married in Vegas! Sure, it could work… maybe… but really, is that wise?

12:42 I wrote all that, and the Senate is STILL arguing about the veto override on SB 148. Mostly the same old same old. BUT. What is new, is notable: (I’ll fill this in later sorry)

Vote - all aye in favor of override but Francisco, Hensley, Kelly, Schodorf, Steineger, Wysong, and three were either absent or didn’t speak up. Ah. Vote is being held open for Betts. He was a no.

32 in favor, seven against. Same headcount as usual.

Gotta get food before I pass out. If I topple now, it will be over the rail of the Senate Gallery, right into the lap of a senator who probably would not enjoy the experience.

1:37 Eileen and Maril, for apparently no good reason, just looked at each other, screamed, high-fived, and did a little happy dance, right out there in the middle of the Capitol rotunda. Yay!

What??? Hang on. Couldn’t the world end - ie, the Governor’s veto get overridden - at 2:30 this afternoon?

Let’s look at this from a different perspective for a second. First, recall where we stood in January, when the session began. This whole mess was supposed to be law by the end of February. They had the votes.

Here we are, though, still alive on the last day of April. Did we expect to still be here by now? Heck no. And what we did the little dance for - all the people who showed up today, to support the Governor’s veto!!! All the people who have gotten mobilized on clean energy in Kansas!!! This is a community of interest now. A community that cares. So many different folks have mobilized. So many people have worked on it. So many people in Kansas need to feel pretty stinkin’ proud.

I think that’s worth a little crazy happy dance, don’t you? It is entirely conceivable that without this controversy - much as I hate to admit it - these folks wouldn’t have drawn together so fast and so tight. And believe me, whatever happens this day, we will have to hang together, because there’s still a long haul ahead.

But take a second! Get up and do the dance.

Corny moment over, thanks for your indulgence. Also to point out, in terms of normal boring political commentary - this veto override (or not) is a bit of a bright shiny object. Don’t forget - whatever happens, litigation is sure to ensue. The fat lady won’t sing today. Or even by the end of May.

So why does this issue still matter so much? Well - in the Kansas coal controversy, the lines are being drawn on energy reform. Much like how it happened with the Civil War (although we trust the energy debate will not involve violence) Kansas is the first round in a battle that will be ultimately be played out all over the U.S., and even on the federal stage.

Second, the coal debate is currently really down to politics and power In Kansas, not necessarily the merits of the issue. Why other non-Kansans should still pay attention - this debate over carbon regulation is not breaking down along traditional partisan lines. Environmental issues can reshuffle the polity.

And, just for Kansans - probably one of the reasons that your legislative leaders are still duking this out - they have expended a whole lot of political capital, at this point. At this point, they see no other option for recovering that investment.

2:25 Sitting in the House gallery. They reconvene at 2:30, supposedly - what is going on now is that both parties are caucusing, most likely to discuss the new trailer bill being proposed this afternoon.

If they can get that bill through, the story is that they won’t try for a veto override. Or, other theories are that the caucus is still counting noses for a veto override. Pretty much take your pick of stories it’s like a rumor buffet.

2:40 Still caucusing. 2:57 Ho hum. Lot more warm bodies, just no action. A fringe theory up here in the Gallery is that there may be no action on this issue as long as the Frontline cameras keep rolling.

3:02 We reconvene. Now we are recognizing Lime Disease and Tick Awareness Month. Don’t laugh. Jeff Co, where I live, has a huge problem with it. That is the land of ticks up there. (Ticks is of course also a Brad Paisely song.)

3:08 Final action votes. Campaign finance. I think there are more people in the gallery than there are on the floor. Pretty much unanimous vote on the campaign finance. It passes. 3:12 Rural economic development initiative. Passes. Some interesting no votes. 3:17 construction bill, conference committee report. Report adopted. Initiative passes. 3:20 KCC provision re telecommunications and broadband. Rural areas need broadband - the better to read blogs, right? Passes. 3:23 Virtual schools, disaster relief. Passes.

3:30 Introduction of original motions. Colloton wants House to reconsider action on 570. Someone pushed the wrong button wants a do-over. Criminentally! They get it. 3:35 Removal of debris in flood damaged areas.

3:39 Rules suspension for certain bills.

NEWS FLASH - This just in - coal compromise offered in Iowa by their Utilities Board (they have been having their own coal controversy - much less widely publicized than in KS). The Iowa regulators have definitely recognized the carbon risks to ratepayers - and look at how many conditions there are for a 600 MW plant (the Sunflower proposal is for 1400 MW).

Interesting - that proposed plant is 60 MW less than Governor Sebelius’s proposed compromise to Sunflower. Quotable:

The Iowa Utilities Board has approved a crucial permit for Alliant Energy’s proposed $1.5 billion power plant at Marshalltown… The approval came with three main conditions attached to it:

– The burning of bio-mass must reach 5 percent of the plant’s capacity within 2 years and 10 percent within 5 years.

– The company’s energy supply must be 10 percent renewable energy when the plant goes online in 2013. The use of renewable energy must then increase 1 percent annually for 15 years.

– The IUB will periodically review the feasibility of retrofitting carbon capture technology, which deals with capturing the emissions from generating power, and reserves the right to require Alliant to install that technology at its new plant.

… A written ruling will further explain the conditions attached to the permit. That ruling is expected to be issued in a few weeks.

They also still need an air permit.

3:56 Disaster relief bill. Controversy over it. Passes 77 to 48. Interesting margin. 4:01 more rule suspensions (these are just to slam things through without all the procedural mess). 4:11 checking out mentally until we get (if we get) to energy) 4:28 RE a bill on body removal post-organ donation - “Removing dead bodies. I think that’s a cause we can all get behind.” No, not making that up. 4:33 Word on the street (Crazy Street) the new trailer bill of Sunflower legislation is now hung up.

4:52 Bored yet? Well, so are your representatives, so is CEP… the scene right now on the House floor is clearly one of stalling.

The word (from Smart Street) as to why: The Senate is going to work the trailer first. Then they will kick it to the House. If the measure receives 84 votes in the House - yes, exactly the margin needed to override the Governor’s veto - then they will go for the veto override on one of the other bills.

An override on which of the two bills…? Unknown. Most likely SB 148, although I’d be a dope to try and predict.

What confuses me, though - okay, so the trailer is a test measure. But. Why would anyone vote for it… if it wasn’t eventually going to have the force of law? I mean, presuming that it succeeded by the necessary margin, then presumably one of the OTHER bills would be overridden and become law, not this one… Why would you switch your vote? Is there a principle of getting the promises into writing, in the new trailer bill…? MH truly is confused by this.

So, FYI, the action has now switched to the Senate. We have a few folks over there, we’ll see how it goes! Word should trickle back.

5:18 Listening in to the Senate. The trailer bill is getting pushed back for getting pushed through - the bill has not gone through the committee process. Problem. There are a lot of questions on the bill - even from supporters of the plants. There are drafting errors, there are needs for amendments… there are significant changes to regulatory policy, which was probably unintentional… we will start to impact utilities in eastern Kansas and need to ve very, very careful… but we need to have full discussion of that. And we don’t want to influence Westar or KCPL without full hearings (!!!!)… ie page six section 9 - KCC limits rate recovery on unrecoverables, whoops, the present regulatory practice is 100% of uncollectables, now that is restricted…

MH - seems like the bill is very poorly drafted, crammed through, could have scary consequences for all KS utilities. And the Senate is also running into one of their own procedural rules, that senators can’t ask more than two questions on a bill - because they all have LOTS of questions on this bill.

Apparently the KCC is communicating with senators as the debate goes on. The senators (on both sides of the issue) want to waive the two speaking rule so they can really go at it- the Senate leader won’t let them, hmm.

Senate is waiting for amendments to be drafted. They stand at ease.

5:25 pm Well we now have two chambers in effect paralyzed by the newest round of coal legislation.

Both are at ease while revisers desperately try to work out the kinks, while the KCC, while utility lobbyists, you name it, desperately try to untangle the farreaching effects of this legislation…

5:42 The House has kind of given up. They adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Headed to the Senate now. 5:58 They are in recess while Senators Barone and Francisco and possibly others draft amendments. There is a little bit of pressure, considering that the Legislature Shrimp Peel is tonight (I think it’s a fundraiser).

While we are waiting for the Senate - an excerpt from the Governor’s remarks this morning, where she rejected Sunflower’s compromise (which she referred to as an “ultimatum”):

I am disappointed that, for the third time in a row, the legislature is asking me to mandate that Kansas send the power we need – the power we create – to Colorado and Texas.

It has been made clear, in my recent talks with leaders of both Sunflower Electric and Midwest Energy, the 200 Megawatts designated for Kansas from the proposed Holcomb project is the maximum available energy that Kansas could ever receive. It is all they have set aside for us.

Yet the power needs of Western Kansas already exceed 200 Megawatts. Therefore, this proposal does not meet our projected energy needs – and does nothing to address the future needs in the remaining 2/3 of the state.

Since December of last year, my administration has sought a true compromise between those who want no new coal plants in Kansas, and Sunflower Electric’s request for two large-scale, coal-fired power plants at Holcomb Station.

I believe the middle ground to be a single power plant, which emits less pollution and whose priority customers are – and would always be – Kansans.

6:23 Senate is back at it. Since I have no hard copy of the bill, I can’t tell what is being amended in Sen. Barone’s amendment - but, it looks like the weatherization program is being gutted. It will be discretionary for utilities to participate, and the KCC can allow a bonus recovery, which their ratepayers will bear the cost of. Emler supports the amendment.

We now await Senator Francisco’s amendments.

Marci is offering five amendments the Senate mildly loses it, in a end-of-a-long-day-and-it-just-got-longer laughter kind of way. They nearly giggled. Any other amendments up? Yes, there seems to be… wait, I missed it. Hmm, they want to discuss Marci’s amendments without having them in writing.

This is a really interesting process.

Sen. Francisco explains her amendments. One of them would require BPU to purchase a minimum of 25 MW from Sunflower Electric. If they do not take entire 200 MW then other munis and coops can take advantage of the remainder. Another Senator says it’s pretty crazy to in effect mandate power purchase agreements through statute. Her amendment fails.

(CEP would say that having power purchase agreements in statute is indeed kind of interesting.)

Minority Leader Hensley and Francisco very much object to the provisions writing in $250K for Sunflower’s bioenergy research per year - which specifically write in “Sunflower Electric.” Not any other utility. Hensley and Francisco think the utilities should all have a chance to compete for rewards from reducing their carbon. Senator Pine is arguing for the provision. Remember, this same provision gains its funding from applying a 2 cents per meter charge statewide, to all ratepayers - but $250,000 of the proceeds are specifically earmarked for Sunflower. Amendment fails. Provision stays in bill.

We are back on the underlying bill. They are going for final action on the newest coal bill, which is a trailer bill - it will probably just be used in the House to take a test vote for the veto override. Roll call vote: all aye except for - Betts, (Francisco passes), Hensley, Shodorf, Steineger, Wysong, Kelly. Same headcount as usual. Many aye votes were gone, though. Senate sub

7:24 we sign off

BTW, CEP’s blog traffic hit an all-time high for the day thanks guys!

— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org