No Charm for Coal Bill
Posted on: Saturday, 17 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
By James Carlson
By James Carlson
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius today vetoed the Legislature's third attempt at allowing expansion of a coal-fired power plant in southwest Kansas.
Supporters of the $3.5 billion project had tied this latest bill to economic development projects around the state, including a tax break aimed at bringing a $150 million manufacturing plant to Topeka. Sebelius criticized the bundling of bills in her veto message.
"Rather than working toward a compromise solution, legislative leaders recklessly chose to jeopardize important initiatives for businesses and communities across our state by combining them with energy legislation I have previously vetoed twice," she said.
House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said the bill would have provided "billions (of dollars) in opportunities.""Now with the Governor's veto, Kansas has lost out on those opportunities," he said. Many legislators were angered by an October decision by Rod Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Health and Environment, to deny the 1,400-megawatt plant addition sought by Sunflower Electric Power Corp.
In his ruling, the secretary cited dangers posed by the new plant's projected 11 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Many scientists link CO2 pollution to global warming.
Bremby's action prompted lawmakers to craft legislation authorizing the construction and stripping the secretary of the power to regulate greenhouse gasses beyond current federal regulations. Two such bills had already flown through the Statehouse with simple majorities in each chamber, but Sebelius has met each with a veto.
Supporters of the coal plant have always had the two-thirds of votes in the Senate needed to override the governor's denials, but the House has consistently come up short of the veto-proof majority.
In an attempt to widen the measure's appeal and gain a few new supporters, legislative leaders packaged the coal-plant issue with a telecommunications industry tax break, financial support for a new transit complex in Johnson County and expansion of tax incentives for business recruitment.
One of the tax incentives was directed toward luring a $150 million wind turbine manufacturing plant to Topeka, one of three cities vying for the project.
Opponents of the coal bill - and some supporters - said the coupling of so many disperate items wouldn't pass the constitutional requirement of each bill having only one subject.
Sebelius said Friday she "cannot support a measure that blatantly contradicts our founding document." Neufeld rejected that criticism, saying every item in the proposal is for economic development. On Friday, he also slammed the governor for allowing to stand Bremby's decision, which Neufeld said is creating regulatory uncertainty that is scaring away investment in the state.
"Businesses must know what is expected of them before they commit to Kansas," he said. "With the Governor's veto, the water remains murky for businesses."
The speaker and others contend a $10 billion oil refinery project that had considered locating in Kansas is no longer interested because of the secretary's action.
Supporters of the plant expansion outside Holcomb in Finney County will have an opportunity to try to override Sebelius' veto when they return for the ceremonial end of the session on May 29. But House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, a supporter of the plant, said he didn't expect enough votes to succeed in the override.
"I'm hoping we continue the conversation and try to gain approval of this next year," he said. He said getting other utilities in the state to purchase a portion of the power from the Holcomb facility could generate some extra support. Some critics have focused on the fact that only 200 of the plant's 1,400 megawatts are earmarked for Kansas, while the remaining energy will flow to Colorado and Texas.
Steve Miller, a spokesman for Sunflower, was disappointed in Friday's veto. "We think Kansans deserve the most reliable and lowest cost energy," he said. Also on Friday, Sebelius vetoed a companion measure to the coal-plant bill that would have kept an additional 200 megawatts in the state and would have applied a 2- cent fee on every electric meter in the state to help pay for a bioenergy research center.
James Carlson can be reached
at (785) 233-7470
or james.carlson@cjonline.com.
(c) 2008 Topeka Capital Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Topeka Capital Journal
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