Sebelius nixes coal plants after money-peddling

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius has vetoed two coal-fired electric plants approved by the GOP dominated state legislature – approved after controversy and lots of corporate cash waved at the Kansas Legislature.

The two proposed plants, to be built by the Sunflower Electric Corporation in the southwest corner of the state, would generate 1,400 megawatts of electricity and produce up to 11 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions. Because of the large production of greenhouse gases, the state’s secretary of health and the environment, Rod Bremby, withheld approval for the plants.

The bill sent to Sibelius, after politicking and Sunflower fearmongering, stripped such power from Bremby’s office, among other objectionable thiongs. The two plants also would have sent 86 percent of their power out of state.

And, fear wasn’t the only thing that Sunflower “monged,” especially to the Kansas Legislature. First, there was legalized bribery for the state’s university system:

Officials of Sunflower Electric Power Corp., the company that wants to build two coal-fired electrical plants near Holcomb, said they would give $2.5 million to Kansas State University if permits for the plants were approved by June 1. The offer was revealed to members of the Kansas House just before a vote on legislation to allow construction of the plants.

(Only K-State was made the offer because most western Kansans aren’t big on KU.)

Also, plenty of lobbying cash got thrown around, and not just by Sunflower:

A report from the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission on 2007 expenditures by registered lobbyists shows two groups spent more than $500,000 on advertisements in the last four months of the year. Kansans for Affordable Energy, which was funded by coal interests and supports the proposed expansion by Sunflower Electric Corp., spent $101,190 over those months to sway public opinion. Know Your Power Kansas, financed by natural gas interests and an opponent of more coal-fired generating plants, spent $405,736 urging people to contact their legislators in support of clean power.

In her veto message, Sebelius repeated her offer to negotiate. She said she would support one generator if it came with investments in renewables and energy conservation. The bill as written had weaker investments in renewables, as well as the neutering of Bremby.

The Kansas Senate has the numbers to override, but the House does not. Stay tuned.

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Global warming skeptics funding source traced to big business

[x-posted on The 2 Dollar Bill]

More information is coming to light on The Heartland Institute's global warming denial conference this past weekend on which I posted previously. For those who are skeptical, it's an important read.

From MediaTransparency.org:

The Heartland Institute

Over the past few decades, The Heartland Institute (website), described by the New York Times as "a Chicago group whose antiregulatory philosophy has long been embraced by, and financially supported by, various industries and conservative donors," has been in the forefront of the movement of corporate-sponsored conservative think tanks, public policy institute and academic researchers first denying global warming existed, more recently palming off climate change as a natural phenomenon, and all the while demonizing those bringing global warming to the attention of the public.

In April 2000, Z magazine published a piece I wrote about the Heartland Institute that was written for CultureWatch, a monthly newsletter which from May 1993 through October 2000, tracked right-wing movements. Titled "Powerful Right-Wing Alliance Challenges Climate Justice: Anti-environmentalists join forces," the story noted that Heartland's Environment News and New Hope Environmental Services Inc., publishers of World Climate Report (with funding from the Greening Earth Society), had joined forces to publish Environment & Climate News, whose tag line is "the monthly publication for new-era environmentalists."

One of the publication's essential functions is to act as a mouthpiece for industry as it tackles head-on the issue of global warming. The first issue presents two stinging critiques by two of "the nation's leading scientists...on global climate change": "Kyoto's Chilling Effects" by Patrick J. Michaels, PhD, University of Virginia environmental science professor, and "Link between deaths and climate weakening over time" by Robert E. Davis, PhD, associate professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia.

There is quite a bit more on the investigation into the Heartland Institute. And it's worth reading.

One should always, always, always know where your science data comes from... especially in this day of spin.

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Global warming kills coal-fired electric plant — in a red state

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment turned down a permit Thursday for twin 700-mW coal-fired electric plants in southwest Kansas. It cited global warming concerns as the reason for the denial.

If a regulatory agency in a “red” state like Kansas will do this, there may be hope for a bottom-up addressing of global warming issues, even if W. fiddles while America swelters on the top-down side.

The department’s staff had recommended issuing the air quality permits, but Roderick L. Bremby, the secretary of the department, said in a statement, “I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing.”

Meanwhile, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation tried to spin the decision:

A spokesman, Stephen J. Miller, said the court decision merely permitted regulations on carbon dioxide but did not create them. “There are no carbon dioxide regulations in the federal rules or in Kansas,” Miller said.

That’s exactly why Bremby’s decision is such a big deal. He went beyond the letter of the law to exercise discretionary concern. The story notes that, according to the Sierra Club, this is the first time a power plant application has been rejected on global warming grounds and that various environmental groups intend to use this precedent in other states.

More below the fold at the link:

For more on the variety of opposition coal-fired electric power plants are drawing, including rock-ribbed red state opposition, see this story. When a Republican cattle rancher in Montana is concerned, you know that global warming denialists of the far right are playing out the tether

Big Coal and Big Electricity aren’t taking this lying down, though:

“It’s clear new coal-fired generation is running into roadblocks,” said Rick Sergel, president and chief executive of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. “I don’t believe we can allow coal-fired generation to become an endangered species. We simply must use all the resources we have.”

The story notes that red-state opposition is mainly in red states west of the Mississippi, where many GOPers already dislike Bush-Cheney over things like coal-bed methane, massive natural gas drilling on BLM land and other things that threaten hunting and fishing.

Red-staters in the South are the heartland of global warming denialists and apparently unconcerned about sweltering in ever-higher heat — and humidity, which global warming will also bring to already-humid areas.

And, even in the West, the hunting and shooting aspects of environmentalism still trump global warming concerns in many places:

“I think global warming is a hoax, and I hate to hitch my wagon to environmentalists,” C. J. Kantorowicz said recently in his living room after a hard day planting winter wheat. “I went to the meeting with the mind that I’d shoot holes in her story, her environmentalist’s view. But she and others convinced me they were right by being honest and answering our questions in detail about pollution and such.”

But, getting a rancher in Montana just to sit down long enough to listen to an environmentalist is a step forward.

And, the continued boom in wind power promises Western farmers and ranchers of the High Plains and Front Range some serious supplemental income — another reason they’re willing to stop and listen to environmentalists.

Perhaps some state regulators, not just environmental groups, will sit up and take notice of Kansas, too. Or, maybe, some state legislators and governors.

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