TOPEKA – Kansas lawmakers plan to leave for their annual three-week spring break Friday.
First, however, they’ll mount one more attempt to resurrect two coal plants rejected by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
Both the House and Senate expect to take up the contentious issue Thursday.
The legislation would eliminate the discretionary power a state regulator used to reject the plants in 2007. State Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby cited carbon emissions in his refusal to grant a permit to Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build two coal-fired plants in Western Kansas.
The bill also contains provisions to encourage renewable energy and energy efficiency standards for state buildings.
The House and Senate have passed the bill, but in slightly different forms.
Lawmakers reconciled the two versions, and now, lawmakers have to vote again to sent it to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Sebelius, a Democrat, has vowed to veto the legislation.
The real test will come when lawmakers return to Topeka later this month for a brief wrap-up session. That’s when any attempts to override Sebelius will occur.
Remember, both chambers must muster a two-thirds majority to overrule a veto. Thursday’s vote (simple majority) will be watched closely as an indicator of whether the support is there. Earlier votes suggest an override would be easy in the Senate, but more difficult in the House.
The issue dominated lawmakers’ time last year, when three bills to authorize the coal plants were passed, and then vetoed. Attempts to override those vetoes failed.
– David Klepper
5 Comments
I almost didn’t read the last paragraph but stopped when my eye saw that this issue DOMINATED lawmakers time last year. Eventhough it was last year, why in heaven’s name did they not possibly see other issues that affect more constituents that this?
It affects the whole state. Do we want to replace current coal with 20% cleaner coal or do we want to raise every ones electric bill $20 to $30 a month?
KS gets all the pollution ; a depleted water table and tons of potentially deadly waste; Colorado and Texas get; POWER; gee what a trade
I doubt if Texas will get any of the power. We are on our own grid, so transfer from the eastern grid would require a massive rectifier for conversion from AC to DC. A DC transport line between the grids, then a massive rectifier for conversion back to AC. Power is much more expensive in Texas than anywhere else in the US because of grid isolation. The Texas grid is only pierced in a couple of places with DC lines.
None of the new capacity will used in Kansas. It all goes out of state. Also, the bill exempts Sunflower from rate requlation by the KCC. That means that the rate payers in Kansas are subject to massive rate increases if the cost of the plant goes up due to cap and trade or construction cost over runs.