Topeka — Opposition to a proposed power plant in western Kansas picked up steam Wednesday as the state extended the deadline until Dec. 15 for public comment, and environmentalists scheduled a rally to protest the coal-fired facility.
A coalition of groups, including the Sierra Club, True Blue Women and University of Kansas Environs, plan to rally Saturday at the Capitol to ask Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to issue a moratorium on new coal-fired plants.
"We ask the governor to stop new coal plant construction and take steps to move Kansas forward without endangering the health of Kansans and further increasing global warming," said Jennifer Byer of True Blue Women.
Environmentalists say the proposal by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build three 700-megawatt plants in Holcomb will emit harmful pollutants, suck valuable water from the underground aquifer and stall development of renewable sources, such as wind energy.
Sunflower officials have defended their proposal, saying it will pump jobs and development into the western Kansas economy and produce needed electricity more cleanly and efficiently than older plants.
Sebelius has declined to declare a moratorium on coal plants, saying she would only consider one if the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Energy Council recommended one as part of a comprehensive energy plan.
As rally plans got under way, state officials extended the deadline for the public to comment on the Sunflower proposal.
"Because of the significant interest in this issue, we feel it is important to extend the deadline to Dec. 15 to ensure that everyone interested will have an opportunity to make their thoughts known," said Roderick Bremby, Kansas Department of Health and Environment secretary.
The period to comment was previously set to expire today.
Now comments can be sent to KDHE postmarked no later than Dec. 15.
All comments should be submitted in writing to Rick Bolfing, KDHE Bureau of Air and Radiation, 1000 S.W. Jackson, Suite 310, Topeka, KS 66612-1366.
Steve Miller, a spokesman for Sunflower, said the company had no problem with the longer comment period.
"We understand that the agency has a large amount of information that they have to deal with," Miller said.
Earlier this month, a public hearing in Lawrence on the plant proposal drew so many people that the meeting had to be extended for a second night.
Later, the Lawrence City Commission submitted a letter to KDHE opposing the issuance of permits for the proposed project.
Comments
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windy (anonymous) says…
I think that extending the public comment period is completely wrong. These groups have had their time in the spot light and things need to move on. Maybe they should get involved in the immigration problem we have in this country, then maybe we would not need new power plants.
SteelHorseRider (anonymous) says…
Hey Windy - why not try for your namesake out in the western hinterland?
Wind farms make much more sense than another coal-fired power plant.
commuter (anonymous) says…
Great, no w we have to hear more of these groups complain.
I find it pretty funny that Boog works for KDHE and the commission wrote a letter oppossing it, now we are extending the deadline.
Go the rally on saturday and see how many of these people drove 1 person in a car.
Jackalope (anonymous) says…
Is there no end to this? Is this the South Lawrence Trafficway of southwest Kansas? If it is, the good folks out on the central high plains can look forward to having their electric plant expansion in the year 2052. Good luck.
preebo (anonymous) says…
Sebelius said at her victory speach not more than a month ago that alternative energy was one of her priorities for the state heading into the future and now she is refusing to halt production of another 'old school" coal fire power plant. What is it going to take for Kansas and other states to get the net. This is going to cause huge issues for our environment down the road. Kansas has to stop looking at the immediate benefits and look into the long term effects of non-renewable resources. Look to the west. Colorado already has made steps to incorporate renewable resources in its statewide power grid. If they can then why can we. The truth here is that this will happen no matter what we say because Kansas lawmakers have no vision and more concept of progress. Keep Kansas one step behind and it will lose in the long run. Here's your chance. I'll be there on Saturday and I hope all of you will to. We all have a stake in this matter.
merrill (anonymous) says…
Over the past few decades, the American public has become increasingly wary of nuclear power because of concern about radiation releases from normal plant operations, plant accidents, and nuclear waste. Except for Chernobyl and other nuclear accidents, releases have been found to be almost undetectable in comparison with natural background radiation. Another concern has been the cost of producing electricity at nuclear plants. It has increased largely for two reasons: compliance with stringent government regulations that restrict releases of radioactive substances from nuclear facilities into the environment and construction delays as a result of public opposition.
Partly because of these concerns about radioactivity and the cost of containing it, the American public and electric utilities have preferred coal combustion as a power source. Today 52% of the capacity for generating electricity in the United States is fueled by coal, compared with 14.8% for nuclear energy. Although there are economic justifications for this preference, it is surprising for two reasons. First, coal combustion produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are suspected to cause climatic warming, and it is a source of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, which are harmful to human health and may be largely responsible for acid rain. Second, although not as well known, releases from coal combustion contain naturally occurring radioactive materials--mainly, uranium and thorium.
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/r...
Jackalope (anonymous) says…
Tallow candles, buffalo chips, and windmills, anyone? We are doomed.
deec (anonymous) says…
Kansas does not "need" these plants. 92% of the electricity will be exported to surrounding states.
dacs23 (anonymous) says…
by "there" do you mean earth?
Jackalope (anonymous) says…
I'm not certain if it is great planning to have a rally at the state house on a Saturday morning. Who is going to be impressed? Virtually nobody but the rally participants and the press, who are having a slow day, will be attending. No one of any decision making responsibility will be within 10 miles of the place. It's Saturday. The offices are closed. Is it a rally to express concern to those who make the decisions or a rally just to have something to do? Is it a rally to make a difference or just to socialize? If it is something worth doing and doing well, take off work, skip class, whatever, but make a point by sacrificing something personal for the cause.
Jackalope (anonymous) says…
And hold the rally on a weekday when someone other than youselves will be impressed.
ASBESTOS (anonymous) says…
"I find it pretty funny that Boog works for KDHE and the commission wrote a letter oppossing it, now we are extending the deadline."
THis is not the first time Boog and other KDHE people employees have been involved in conflict of interest issues. I find it funny that this idiot BOOGER has a problem with the Coal fired power plants, but has no problem whatsoever with KDHE Air program *pencil whipping* all the air emission permits to meet the federal reporting deadlines.
THAT is the unbelieveable part. Ole Vince is so effective, and must be so proud. Bitch all you want about possible emissions, but do nothing about measuring and inventorying current and actual emissions. Idiotic? Yes, but that is kdhe!
nuke is the way to go!
windy (anonymous) says…
Maybe all of the wind warriors need to find out how reliable the wind turbines really are. They need to have at least 5 m.p.h to get them up to speed then when the wind speed gets up to around 30-35 m.p.h they shut down so they do not self destruct. So what will you do with out your computer during that period when you need to bitch about something?
Wind energy reliablity is around 40%, not very good. So this starting and stopping of wind turbines probably will make it hard on the power grid and the controllers that try keep the power on when you whinners flip on your light switches.
Just can not see how this so called pollution can be blown from the S.W to the N.E when there seems to be a lot of hot air coming from the N.E!!
snowWI (anonymous) says…
windy,
If we can develop new transmission lines across more rural counties in Kansas we would have plenty of opportunities to build all the wind farms we would ever need to produce electricity. If we had larger concentrations of wind farms in many different parts of Western Kansas, wind speeds would not be as much of an issue. The new turbines are 240ft tall and use the average wind speeds more effectively to produce electricity than older models. One large scale wind farm they have built in Iowa has the potential to serve around 80,000 people. That is about the total population of Dodge City, Garden City and Hays combined. Wind farms should be more than adequete to serve the lesser populated rural areas.
However, Kansas is involved in the "tri-state electric cooperative." If we must be an exporter of electricity, we have to do it the clean way. Coal power plants have a lifetime of between 50-75 years. By the time these proposed plants would be taken out of commission Kansas would be very far behind the clean renewable technologies.
The prevailing jet stream winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere blow from west to east across North America. It does not matter what direction the wind is on any particular day, because the overall prevailing winds due to the jet stream move from West to East. That is why we have higher concentrations of acid precipitation in the northeast US. The pollution from the coal power plants in the midwest and other industrial activities contriubtes to the increase in acidity of precipitation that falls to the ground. The Adirondack Mountains in New York have extensive forest damage because of this acid rain.
The point being, power plants have impacts on other parts of the country as well, and the entire world.