The tug-of-war over a proposed coal-fired power plant in Kansas continues, despite a compromise incorporated into law by the state’s legislature in May, shortly after new Governor Mark Parkinson took office.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notified the state of Kansas and Sunflower Electric, that a new air permit will be required before Sunflower can build the 895-MW power plant near Holcomb.
Former Governor Kathleen Sebelius–who left office to join the Obama administration–vetoed four separate bills
passed by the state’s legislature that would have allowed Sunflower
Electric to build two coal-fired plants, despite a landmark decision by
state regulators to deny permits based on health and environmental
risks associated with greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA’s notification echoes a letter Earthjustice and the Sierra Club sent to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on June 19, noting that the public has a legal right to review and comment on any new permit. The letter was prompted by what the environmental groups called a "closed door deal" struck between Kansas Governor Parkinson and Sunflower Electric in May seeking to guarantee the power company a permit.
"We fully support EPA’s position and agree the public is entitled to an opportunity to voice their concerns on a project that has implications to our health and environment," said Stephanie Cole of the Kansas Sierra Club.
Earthjustice said the EPA agreed that the law requires Sunflower Electric to submit new environmental analyses for the recently proposed power plant in it’s permit application. The EPA points out that the permit should contain limits on a type of dangerous particulate air pollution common to dirty coal-fired power plants that an earlier draft permit from 2006 failed to include, and that the application should consider the benefits of new, cleaner technology the coal plant rejected in its 2006 application.
The EPA also emphasized that the coal plant will require a separate permit application process for the most dangerous pollutants it will emit, such as mercury and acid gasses. The governor’s private agreement with Sunflower attempted to exempt the dirty coal plant from this application process, Earthjustice said. The EPA also says the plant’s operators would need to review the best available control technology to minimize pollution since it may have improved in the past three years since it was last considered.
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