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by Scott Rothschild
June 19, 2011 at 12:07 p.m.
Report shows close communication between state agency and coal-fired plant developers in permit process
In a report today, the Kansas City Star shows the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. were in close contact when KDHE was writing the permit for Sunflower's controversial 895 megawatt coal-burning power plant.
The newspaper reveals emails that show KDHE allowed Sunflower to respond to questions from the public about the project and used those answers as its own during the permit process.
Former KDHE Secretary Roderick Bremby, who denied Sunflower's first permit, and then later was fired by Gov. Mark Parkinson after Sunflower officials and legislators who supported the project complained that Bremby was delaying the second permit process, reviewed the emails obtained by the Star and described them as "disgusting." He added, "We are supposed to be working with the applicant but not for the applicant."
Here is a link to the story: http://bit.ly/itonZU
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Jimo (anonymous) says…
Money quote:
"In fact, the relationship was so close that the [Kansas Department of Health and Environment] allowed Sunflower to respond to questions from the public and then passed some of the answers off as their own."
Better get used to it. Most of Brownback's answers (when he bothers to give them) sound as if they were written by the Koch Bros. and their various front organizations.
It matter not that the cat catches mice but rather that the cat be white.
63BC (anonymous) replies…
Jimo,
This occurred during the Parkinson Administration. The permit was issued before Brownback even took office. It's made clear in the first paragraph.
Watch that knee-jerk.
Jimo (anonymous) replies…
That would be why you'd better get used to it. Parkinson was a Repub convert. Brownback's the distilled essence. It's. going. to. get. worse. Jeez, reading comprehension, guy.
Watch that knee-jerk.
kansanjayhawk (anonymous) replies…
However, Brownback was not the governor when this was going on it was a Democrat named Mark Parkinson--close political hack--of the Sebelius machine...
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) replies…
What utter drivel. Parkinson clearly took his own path once he took over as governor, and with regards to the Holcomb plant, that meant doing the dirty work to get it passed through, and the emails indicate that work was pretty dirty.
notanota (anonymous) replies…
Actually, he switched parties in 2006 to be Sebelius' running mate. Prior to that he was very much a Republican. He was even chairman of the Kansas Republican Party. I doubt he changed much in his political philosophies between 2003 and 2006 other than how he spelled his party affiliation.
yourworstnightmare (anonymous) says…
This was actually occurring under Parkinson, when Sebelius had left to be HHS secretary and Rod Bremby had been fired.
If you recall, Bremby blocked the permit and Sebelius vetoed legislative attempts to issue the permit.
Once Sebelius was out, Parkinson and the KDHE without Bremby went down this path.
Makes more sense now why Parkinson didn't run for governor with these skeletons in his closet.
LesBlevins (anonymous) says…
I offered the KDHE the chance to offer the residents of Kansas an alternative to building any more carbon belching coal fired power plants but the powers that be at KDHE were not the least bit interested. Why? Because they already had their minds made up that Kansas was going to keep the people of Kansas in bed with the fossil fuel industry. This is why Kansas has never come up with a long term energy policy that could be publicized.
kansanjayhawk (anonymous) replies…
We need a balanced approach for our energy future. Coal fire, nuclear, wind, and solar among other options. The newest generation of coal fire plants are far cleaner than most of the plants currently on line. America's energy future should include all options as we move ahead with a pro-jobs agenda. Brownback is doing a fine job in leading Kansas in the direction of a positive balanced energy future!
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) replies…
There is no such thing as clean coal or clean nuclear. Even if you want to support these forms of generation, please don't try to push the lie that they are or ever can be "clean."
notanota (anonymous) replies…
Give me a break. There's no such thing as clean coal. Saying modern plants are cleaner is just polishing a turd.
Carbon Capture and Storage technology is mostly a fairy tale the industry reads to politicians as they tuck them into bed, and even if it were cheap and totally available right now, it still doesn't solve the huge environmental mess of mining the stuff.
Keep in mind also, that this is the same Brownie who recently scuttled wind farm deals that could have been both pro-jobs and pro-clean energy. No, I don't think he's even aiming for your golden mean fallacy of an energy plan.
tolawdjk (anonymous) says…
Taking a company's repsonse to comments and then putting it out there as their own has been KDHE's mo for years. Nothing new or exciting there.
doc1 (anonymous) says…
Sounds like a perfect plan to help deplete that nasty aquifer problem in western Kansas. Great idea Sunflower.
kansanjayhawk (anonymous) replies…
What do you want? --Western Kansas to just dry up--and not be a part of the future by building these plants? It is really sad how some environmentalists don't look at reality and use common-sense in solving some of these long-term problems! We are going to need electricity and power in the future and we should prepare for that now.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) replies…
"Western Kansas to just dry up"
Building this plant will help to dry things up out there just that much faster. So your accusation makes absolutely no sense.
average (anonymous) replies…
Unfortunately, Sunflower as it is proposed doesn't help if Western Kansas needs more power in the future.
No, really. 80% of the power generated at the new Sunflower plant is contractually obligated to go to Colorado and New Mexico utilities. Two states that don't want to build their own dirty power plants. If a major industrial boom came to Dodge/Garden or the rest of western Kansas and they needed more of the power from Sunflower, they would be told to go pound sand.
It's a crap deal for us on that basis alone. It's not power for Kansas' future. Just Kansas pollution.
DougCounty (anonymous) replies…
Instead of importing Wyoming coal and spewing CO2, mercury and who knows what else across the rest of the state, how about joining the wind renaissance? Siemens has a plant in Hutch full of engineers who are trying to boost wind energy production and I'll bet there are a lot of Western KS towns who could do lots of the subcontract work. Be a little more creative!
riverat (Joe Hyde) says…
The methodology KDHE used in "studying" Sunflower's permit application was bogus; therefore, the state permit KDHE issued to build that power plant is bogus.
The KDHE officials who were involved in greasing the slide for this permit issuance were literally functioning as employees of Sunflower Electric, taking direction from that company's corporate headquarters. What they did is damn wrong.
After his recent mass firings at KSRS and KDOL, plus cuts in school funding that will impact the number of licensed educators in our state, Gov. Brownback might still be itching to cut the overall number of state employees. He could do the right thing for once by firing every KDHE employee who was directly and knowingly involved in perpetrating this violation of the public trust.