To the editor:

The Republican legislative leadership recently ignored other vital issues while trying twice to push through bills designed to allow the construction of coal-fired power plants in western Kansas and, just for good measure, to strip the Secretary of Health and Environment of the responsibility to protect the environment from air pollution. Gov. Sebelius wisely and courageously vetoed both measures.

In his Saturday Column, Mr. Simons showed a degree of cynicism unusual even for a professional newspaper person. He suggested that her actions were intended just to impress “Democratic big wigs” in Washington in order to get her a Cabinet post or even a place as running mate for Sen. Obama. He barely acknowledged that she might simply have been acting to protect the Earth and future generations from the dumping of millions of tons of additional CO2.

Was he actually not being cynical at all? Was he just trying to obscure the crucial environmental issues by suggesting crass political motives? Is he willing to distort facts just to support profits for out-of-state corporations? Will the rhetorical questions ever end?

P.S. I was pleased to read Tuesday’s editorial calling for thoughtful, nonpartisan energy planning based on science rather than rhetoric.

Joe Douglas,

Lawrence