Scott Allegrucci, of the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy, speaks to several hundred people at Clean Energy Day rally outside the Capitol.
Emil Ramirez, representing United Steelworkers of Kansas City. Kan., speaks to the crowd that gathered to oppose the proposed coal-burning power plants in southwest Kansas.
Topeka — Several hundred people Thursday rallied outside the Capitol to oppose a bill that would allow construction of two 700-megawatt coal-burning power plants
"Global warming is real, and it's time to do something about it," Tom Thompson, a lobbyist for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club, said during the Clean Energy Day event.
Lawmakers have been fighting for two years over the coal-fired plants proposed to be built in southwest Kansas.
The Legislature has approved bills to build the plants, but Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed those attempts. Supporters have been unable to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to overturn the vetoes.
The latest bill now is in a House-Senate conference committee.
Some have theorized that supporters of the project will keep the bill in conference until Sebelius leaves Kansas as President Barack Obama's nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Then once Sebelius is gone, supporters think they will be able to overturn a veto.
But speakers at the rally urged lawmakers who are opposed to the plant to remain strong — and focus instead on renewable energy, such as Kansas wind power.
"It's not drill, baby, drill. It's blow, baby, blow," said Kathie Moore, of the Reno County Wind Energy Task Force.
The rally featured speakers representing environmental, religious and labor organizations.
Comments
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RonHolzwarth (Ron Holzwarth) says…
China is firing up a NEW coal powered plant every week, and of course, the CO2 and particles float right over California, and all the way around the world. So, do you think that TWO new coal plants here, per decade, makes much of a difference, since there are 520 fired up in the same period of time, on the other side of the planet? Sure, it's a problem, but the effort would be better placed in developing cleaner alternatives. Clean coal is possible, I'm sure of that.
madameX (anonymous) says…
Why do they think they'll have better luck overturning a veto after Sebelius leaves than before? It's not there will be different legislators or anything.
grammaddy (anonymous) says…
There is no such thing as "clean coal".
Blow, baby, blow!!!
Mixolydian (anonymous) says…
grammaddy (Anonymous) says…
There is no such thing as “clean coal”.
Blow, baby, blow!!!
==========================
huh uhhh..Obama says there is too clean coal....and he never lies.
belexus73 (anonymous) says…
Based upon past speeches and quotes, it appears that Mark Parkinson is firmly against any new coal projects in Kansas. Since he is not planning on running for office again, this leads me to believe that he would veto coal-friendly legislation as well. As far as China goes I will pose this question: Why would the rest of the world clean up before the United States begins to? By showing our determination to not build coal plants, pass carbon restricting legislation, and up fuel standards, we have much more standing in the world to ask the same of China, India, and Outer Mongolia.
jackbinkelman (anonymous) says…
"China is firing up a NEW coal powered plant every week"
So if China jumped off a cliff, you'd follow?
OnlyLawrenceRepublican (anonymous) says…
I hate to be the grammar or spelling police, but if you show enough effort to make a sign and go protest, you should have the decency to spell the governor's name right.
tin (anonymous) says…
Turn these peoples power off. Then they can bitch all they want.
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
I wonder if all those people bicycled there?
belexus73 (anonymous) says…
Must have been a Republican who misspelled the governor's name. Those GOP'ers will do anything to denigrate her......at least Parkinson's name will be easier to spull rite.
jumpin_catfish (anonymous) says…
I like to see the car they drove. Was car pooling involved? After all Al Gore is watching.
ihatelv (anonymous) says…
Hippies..........
merrill (anonymous) says…
Ks legislators may well be setting Kansas up NOT to receive federal funds due this polluting decision.
Clean Coal is about 15 years away and very very expensive to build and produce = dumb dollars and no sense
Wind,solar and hydro are cleaner and on site as in Kansas.
Will provide many more long term jobs and “royalties” for farmers.
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
"Richard 'Give me all your money' Heckler (Anonymous) says… Ks legislators may well be setting Kansas up NOT to receive federal funds due this polluting decision."
Fine with me.
I'm curious Richard: is your computer off the grid or do you use dirty coal power?
jumpin_catfish (anonymous) says…
Good one gl0ck0wn3r
Shardwurm (anonymous) says…
I'm curious if any of these protesters are from areas of the state where these plants would be built. You know, the places where they are so desperate for revenue of any kind that they're giving away free land to anyone?
I doubt it.
labmonkey (anonymous) says…
Let's see...the LJworld reports "hundreds protest." Translation: Maybe a couple dozen.
belexus73 (anonymous) says…
I read where one of the speakers was from western Kansas and came with a carload of citizens from those parts.
UfoPilot (anonymous) says…
There is this...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
okay these greenie wheenies, and Barack Hussein Obama are going to *increase* my electric bill!
what's really fair: charge them the difference in *my* bill and for those of us who want cheaper electricity.
***
please note re comments on richard heckler above, he is lawnmowerman, and last word was that per gallon of gas, per horse power, lawn mowers pollute far more than any car on the road today!
plus his "dollars and sense" refs are so fingernail-on-chalkboard! but in this case, please keep posting Merrill, you usually don't help the subjects you advocate through your posts!
blakus (anonymous) says…
Let China keep building filthy coal plants while we look to the future. Too bad too many people are short-sighted... in the long-run, coal will run out. Yes, we all learn that in first grade but most of us, consumed by consumerism, forget that and think 'Hey, China is going to outdue us with all those plants and production output... more coal plants." Silly, because down the road, if you depend on a finite resource, you will lose.
straightforward (anonymous) says…
Logicsound - your statement was so profound that you probably didn't even realize it:
"Either way, our legislature is a joke, writing specific legislation for a private company."
Hmmmm... kind of like the congress writing an unconstitutional tax for bonuses paid at a private company, AIG for instance.
Can't we just think of this as a special earmark project. Better yet, an earmark that won't cost the state any money and actually will create jobs.
danemary (anonymous) says…
stupid, very stupid people!
Centerville (anonymous) says…
Kansas Sunflower has a more accurate story and noted that they used coal-generated electricity to run their PA system. Why didn't they use a windmill? Or solar? Sibileus will be laughing all the way to DC, leaving Parkinson and Rothschild holding the bag (and us holding 50% higher electric bills) for her insane publicity stunt.
Kryptenx (anonymous) says…
Centerville: what other option was available? Just because we currently use coal does not mean that we should continue to.
Kryptenx (anonymous) says…
And Kansas Sunflower has a more accurate story? Last time I checked, bias does not translate into accuracy. In fact, it translates into the exact opposite.
caretaker (anonymous) says…
About cost and gobal warming... The deaths from coal plant pollution are 22,000 per year; more than from drunk driving, drug overdose, AIDS, or homicides. There are also children born with lower IQ and other birth defects from mercury. The health costs are estimated at $167.3 billion annually.
Climate change is a fact that the top climate scientists and most all scientists, except the ones not paid off by the petroleum industry, have agreed on. 30,000 Europeans died from a heat wave a few years ago. When have we had a Katrina level of death and destruction hurricane before? We are going to have continued extreme weather events, it's just whether we want to continue to deny the problem or do something to prevent it from getting extremely bad for our children. We are in the midst of a mass extinction of species; losing 1/4 of all species, many mammals, birds and polar species. There will continue to be more human deaths from drought, floods, hurricanes, heat waves, etc.
My concern is not from any mythology, it's from reading books. I prefer to share the facts rather than calling people names.