photo by: Mike Yoder/Journal-World File Photo

A flock of birds glides over a field east of Evergy's Lawrence Energy Center in this file photo.

Plans to convert the coal-burning power plant on the outskirts of Lawrence to a natural gas-burning plant have been scrapped indefinitely, the Journal-World has learned from a review of regulatory filings by the plant’s operator.

Evergy, the state’s largest electric utility, confirmed to the Journal-World that it now plans to continue burning coal at its Lawrence Energy Center past 2028, which was a date the company had identified as a shut down date for coal operations at the power plant.

While Evergy originally said it would stop burning coal at the Lawrence Energy Center by the end of 2023, they delayed the timeline to the end of 2028, saying there were grid reliability concerns and a need to maintain capacity. Even though the company planned to cease coal combustion, there were still plans to continue burning fossil fuels, and it would do so with natural gas.

Now, those are not the plans anymore and the goal post has been moved to continue coal burning indefinitely. The Journal-World found a letter Evergy shared with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment from Dec. 2025, stating “Evergy has chosen to maintain the coal combustion option at (Lawrence Energy Center).”

That’s because the conversion of a coal unit to natural gas would have the plant producing less electricity than it currently does.

“Previously, our planning had identified an opportunity to retire coal operations at Lawrence Energy Center and rely on natural gas at the power plant instead,” Gina Penzig, an Evergy spokesperson, said via email. “This change would have reduced the expected maximum output of the power plant by about 35 megawatts.”

Penzig said the reason Evergy will continue burning coal is because it will keep the additional 35 megawatts of electricity generation available to serve customers, which is needed now to meet growing regional demand for electricity.

She said two things have resulted in an increased need for electricity in recent years. The first is current customers expanding operations and new customers interested in locating to the region across several industries. Evergy did not mention specific industries that are creating the new demand, however, as the Journal-World and other media have reported, many data centers are now considering Kansas after state lawmakers approved incentives for the large users of electricity.

Second, Penzig said, severe weather events over the past five years resulted in changes to generation requirements for utilities.

Evergy did not provide the Journal-World with any date for when the plant might retire coal operations in the future.

When Evergy announced it would delay closure plans to its coal units in 2023, many people protested, demanding the company to move towards clean energy and stop relying on fossil fuels. The Sierra Club has urged Evergy to reverse its decision to keep the aging plant open, citing it as a major source of pollution.

Penzig said Evergy is taking further steps to address the increased need for generation. Evergy is currently building new plants. This week, the company broke ground on Chisholm Trail Energy Center south of Wichita, a combined-cycle natural gas plant.

In addition to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, coal fired power plants are creating other environmental concerns. The Journal-World became aware of Evergy’s plan to continue operating the coal-fired power plant while the newspaper was investigating issues around the subject of coal ash.

Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal, and many ash dump sites across the country are leaking a mix of harmful chemicals, including arsenic, boron, cobalt, chromium, lead, lithium, radium, selenium, and other heavy metals. Exposure to these chemicals increases the risk of cancer, heart and thyroid disease, reproductive failure, and neurological harm.

The Lawrence Energy Center produces coal ash, and has current and former dump sites near its operations. The Journal-World is reviewing multiple documents and test results from that site.

The decision to keep burning coal at Lawrence’s coal plant comes at a time when the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed significant revisions to the regulations regarding disposal of coal ash. That latest proposal for the Coal Combustion Residuals regulations call for a loosening of restrictions on coal ash disposal.

The EPA is accepting public comment on those proposed changes through June 12 on the EPA’s website.