Kansas Governor Rejects Two Coal-Fired Power Plants

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-21-01.asp

Kansas Governor Rejects Two Coal-Fired Power Plants

TOPEKA, Kansas, March 21, 2008 (ENS) - Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius today vetoed legislation that would have overturned a decision of her administration to deny an permit application to build two new coal-fired power plants because of the greenhouse gases they would have produced. The measure passed without a veto-proof majority of state legislators.

Last October Secretary of Kansas Department of Health and Environment Rob Bremby denied a permit to regional wholesale power supplier Sunflower Electric Power Corporation to build two new power plants at its Holcomb Station in western Kansas.

The bill Sebelius vetoed today would have permitted the power plants and stripped the state agency of the power to deny such permits in the future if they held utilities to standards stricter than those in the federal Clean Air Act.

"We know that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change," Sebelius said. "As an agricultural state, Kansas is particularly vulnerable. Therefore, reducing pollutants benefits our state not only in the short term – but also for generations of Kansans to come."

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