To his credit, State Senator Barnett, a physician, correctly opposes the proposed coal-fired power plants on the environmental disaster basis in both air pollution and gulping additional amounts of water from our Kansas citizen owned Ogallala aquifer.

State Senator John Vratil, a Leawood attorney, apparently favors building the two coal-fired power plants perhaps because Leawood is about as far as one can get from Holcomb, Kansas, some 400 miles westward. And lawyers usually see potential fees for other lawyers in these kind of massive developments.

Its obvious the power plants like ethanol plants will add pollution immeasurably to Kansas air quality and gulp millions more gallons of clean bubbling Ogallala aquifer water from deep under Kansas.

Cleverly, the proposed twin power plants are sited near the western border of Kansas to pick up the gradual movement of Ogallala water southeastward under Kansas. Some of it seeps into both branches of the Ninnescah River as well as the Chikaskia River a few miles south. The north branch of the Ninnescah River, of course, feeds Lake Chaney. Cheney Lake in turn provides about 1/2 of Wichita’s water supply.

Some of the Ogallala water reaches the Equus Beds aquifer near Halstead which also furnishes water to Wichita for its drinking water supply.

What we don’t want in Kansas is to become like Atlanta, Georgia and not have any remaining drinking water. Or obtain our water supply from surface rivers which here in Wichita means taking regurgitated, recycled sewage treatment water from cities up the Arkansas River for Wichita’s drinking water.

In all the articles about the proposed Holcomb power plants, I see almost no mention of the desperate water situation Kansans might find themselves in if they allow the Ogallala aquifer to continue to be robbed and pillaged by industrialists and uninformed politicians.

SO EVERYONE … WE MUST PULL TOGETHER TO SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT INCLUDING OUR AIR AND DRINKING WATER.

Tom Paine – I saw that article too. However I remain skeptical. I’ve seen too many of these claims before.

Economics is “global” just as the environment is “global”.

You get selfish with one and not with the other.

Keep doing what we’ve always done and expect a different result.

We need to use coal in a enviornmentally balance approach to wind (which need to be backed up by conventional plants during time when wind is not available) and would serve as an addtional buffer against higher natural gas costs.

It doesnt really matter where we purchse fuel from, it still comes from the huge supply pool.

I will always be NIMBY on this kind of polluting monster.

Especially when it is of little benefit to Kansas and uses up our resources, pollutes our air, ground and water and offers no real electrical benefit but to a few Kansans.