Wichita — The president of the state Senate is critical of an advertising campaign funded by an Oklahoma natural gas company that takes aim at the stalled proposal for a $3.6 billion coal-fired power plant in western Kansas.
The "Know Your Power" print and broadcast ads started appearing shortly after a recent decision by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to reject a proposal by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to add two new generating units to its Holcomb power station in Finney County, west of Garden City.
The new ads juxtapose pastoral scenes against shots of stack emissions from the Holcomb plant. The television ads advocate for clean power and show brief shots of a gas burner and spinning windmills as examples.
The expansion would add 1,400 megawatts to the plant's 360-megawatt capacity. The KDHE cited emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas linked to global warming, in its rejection of the plan.
The new power plants would be built in Senate President Steve Morris' district; House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, represents a neighboring district. They and dozens of other legislators have signed on to try to reverse KDHE's decision, claiming the agency overstepped its authority and that killing the power plant would kill billions of dollars of economic development.
Morris, R-Hugoton, called the ads misleading, and criticized Chesapeake Energy Corp., which is the world's largest independent natural gas producer, for failing to disclose that it paid for the ads.
"For a company selling natural gas, it's self-serving," he said. "I'm assuming they don't want coal to be used so they can sell more natural gas. It's sort of a case of greed."
Michael Grimaldi, a spokesman for Chesapeake Energy Corp., defended the campaign, saying the company believes it has a more environmentally friendly fuel to offer.
Grimaldi said the company is conducting "an educational campaign" to highlight the environmental issues associated with coal generation. He said the company is in the business of selling natural gas and there's nothing wrong with comparing it to coal.
"I don't think there's anything impure about that," he said.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, an advocate of wind power, penned an open letter to Kansans last week defending KDHE's decision.
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lounger (anonymous) says…
No matter how you slice it coal=bad wind< solar< natural gas< = good....period!
dirkleisure (anonymous) says…
This pick up from the Associated Press is incomplete. In the story from yesterday's Wichita Eagle, which is where this AP feed originated, the following tidbit caught my eye:
"The Know Your Power ads started appearing shortly after the KDHE decision. They juxtapose pastoral scenes against shots of stack emissions from the Holcomb plant.
Morris, R-Hugoton, called the ads misleading, saying the discharges they show are steam, not smoke."
http://www.kansas.com/news/story/2122...
Steam. Not smoke. So misleading, it is just steam coming out of those stacks. Steam.
pace (anonymous) says…
If something was illegal about the ads, then something should be done but the republicans should be the last to complain about planted ads, they are the kings of that creepy nonsense.
hornhunter (anonymous) says…
dirkleisure (Anonymous) says: Steam. Not smoke. So misleading, it is just steam coming out of those stacks. Steam
Yep, its no different then your cars tailpipe on a cold day DAH!