To the editor:

Our state representatives are sitting in judgment of a bill, now being debated in the Kansas Legislature, which would override the Department of Health and Environment, and allow construction of two giant coal-fired power plants in western Kansas.

Opposition to the plants is widespread, with polls showing most Kansans opposed. The alarm over these plants concerns the many millions of tons of greenhouse gases the plants will emit. And almost all the power will be shipped out of state, so Kansas will get all the pollution and almost none of the power.

The small amount of power western Kansas needs can easily be met with energy-efficiency measures, and wind farms. How will we convince China to stop its fast-paced construction of coal-fired plants when we are building them ourselves? How do we get other countries to slow down production of greenhouse gases when we are increasing our own production?

Reid Nelson,

Lawrence