To the editor:

The Lawrence Journal-World reported legislative leaders saying that “if the state rejects proposed coal-burning electric plants in western Kansas, developers would move the $4 billion project 50 miles west to Colorado.”

We’ve been following Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s billion-dollar boondoggle over here in Colorado, and I can tell you that this is just another fast one they’re trying to pull over Kansas, Colorado, and the whole region.

The first time Holcomb coal plant supporters tried this scare tactic, they said Texas and Oklahoma would build the coal plant and reap the reward, but both those states are headed in a different direction.

Just last month, Oklahoma officials rejected plans for a coal-burning facility. And earlier this year, Texas’ largest energy provider, TXU, scrapped plans for eight coal plants. TXU realized that their dollars are better invested in clean energy solutions which create more jobs, more local tax revenue and none of the disastrous impacts that coal plants have on our air and water quality.

Why do you think Colorado-based Tri-State is trying to put this polluter in your back yard, just 50 miles from Colorado, instead of ours? First, they knew these plants could not be built in Colorado. Second, they thought Kansas was an easy target. Kansans should say try again, Tri-State.

Justin Wilson,

Denver