Innovest, an influential international financial adviser group, released a report Tuesday that analyzed the risks and benefits of Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s proposed coal-fired power plant expansion near Holcomb. It found that while the Sunflower expansion would provide additional baseload capacity, “the carbon risks associated with an increased reliance on coal present significant financial risks for the company’s owners and ratepayers.” What kind of risks? Assuming carbon regulation costs based on prevailing market rates of between $21 and $48 per ton, the Holcomb plant could cost Sunflower ratepayers “between $22.4 million and $51.36 million annually,” the study found. The analysis concludes that “Sunflower has failed to account for likely regulatory scenarios, and will therefore expose its ratepayers to the significant financial exposure associated with a strategic focus on developing new coal capacity.”
Ric Anderson of the Topeka Capital-Journal finds a silver lining in the 2008 Legislature’s coal-plant obsession: “For those who subscribe to the theory that the best legislative action generally is none at all, the 2008 session has been one to remember.” Noting that one of the only nine signed bills so far this session requires the state to purchase liability insurance on watercraft used by wildlife and parks personnel, Anderson concluded: “At least we can rest assured the state will be covered if a park ranger’s boat pulls loose from its moorings and scratches some rich guy’s Jet Ski. It’s not a $3.5 billion power plant, but that peace of mind is worth something, isn’t it?”
“Even some Clinton loyalists are wondering aloud if the win-at-all-costs strategy of Hillary and Bill — which continued Tuesday when Hillary tried to drag Rev. Wright back into the spotlight — is designed to rough up Obama so badly and leave the party so riven that Obama will lose in November to John McCain,†New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote. “If McCain only served one term, Hillary would have one last shot. On Election Day in 2012, she’d be 65.
“Why else would Hillary suggest that McCain would be a better commander in chief than Obama, and why else would Bill imply that Obama was less patriotic — and attended by more static — than McCain?
“Why else would Phil Singer, a Hillary spokesman, say in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday that Obama was trying to disenfranchise the voters of Florida and Michigan?â€
Rather than trying to help McCain, the more likely answer is that Clinton still thinks she can somehow get enough superdelegates to pull out the nomination, as remote a chance as that is.
Trustees for Social Security and Medicare issued a critical warning this week that both programs are headed for insolvency. Without reforms, the trustees estimate that Social Security and Medicare will deplete their surpluses by 2041 and 2019, respectively. But the budget impact starts much sooner than that. That’s because the surpluses from these programs aren’t sitting in a bank vault somewhere; they’ve been used to help cover overspending by Congress. So once Social Security and Medicare begin paying out more than they take in in payroll taxes (which starts this year for Medicare), the government will have to pay back this money and won’t have surpluses to help pay its bills.
To his credit, President Bush tried to reform these programs, though his approach was too partisan. Both parties, and the presidential candidates, need to commit to working together to preserve these programs. The longer they wait, the fewer and worse the options.
It’s good that Wild West World has a buyer and that the defunct theme park could have another shot at succeeding. Murphy Brothers Exposition of Tulsa has signed a contract, though other bidders have until May 8 to top the offer. The rock-bottom $2 million sales price for the $30 million park won’t help creditors much. But without the huge debt load and with more cash reserves, the park might be able to make it this time. We hope so.
