No one is paying attention to Kansas voters or what OUR opinions are regarding the Holcomb expansion. People across Kansas don’t want new coal plants being built anywhere, particularly in Kansas. A Land Institute poll clearly showed that.
Now, as corporations are wont to do, the Sunflower Electric Power Corp. has raided the Kansas Senate. The final vote was definitely veto proof, 33-7. It’s the worst possible bill that ever could be devised….except for Sunflower who drafted it and inserted their own language.
The bill prevents the Kansas Department of Health and Environment from using global warming as a reason for blocking new coal plants and holds them hostage. What this means is that Jay Emler and his cronies told the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to forget about the health of the citizens of Kansas and go stick their collective heads in the mud. Everything good that was in the original bill was dumped so that Sunflower could have its way.
What this also means is that the bill that was originally passed by theHouse was gutted and the Sunflower language was inserted making it a “gut and go” bill. So, in essence it means the House has already passed the bill even though House members never voted on this particular bill. The bill could go to a conference committee, get a quick vote and be passed before any of us could do anything about it.
It’s a rape…a total violation of our rights.
Based on the federal government’s analysis of coal from Campbell County WY, the source of the coal they use, the plant would emit 2.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide an hour when operating at full capacity. If the plant operated non-stop, it would emit 12.2 million U.S. tons a year.
No problem says Senator Jay Emler and Senate President Steve Morris. We will just build us a great big, gigantic, humongous bioenergy center which will capture the CO2 from the plant and turn it into ethanol, biodiesel or nutrients for feedlots. Never mind that this has never been done and years of research needs to be completed before it might be possible. Feed the citizens a bunch of lies as NO ONE IS LISTENING ANYWAY!
Duane Schrag of the Salina Journal is listening. Read his front page story dated Sunday Feb. 17, 2008, “Spinning Oil Out Of Coal”. If you can access the archives of the Salina Journal, you’re a better person than I am. Their website is the bane of my existence. It’s an excellent article, nonetheless.
Sunflower says it plans on operating at about 92% of capacity which would bring the emissions to 11.2 million tons a year.
Sunflower says it’s bioenergy plant will capture 40% of the CO2 and use it to grow algae. When Dale Schrag of the Salina Journal asked for details about the scale of the carbon capture operation, Sunflower ran out of answers.
Holcomb talks about building an algae reactor but can provide few details. Tests to determine the amount of land needed have been conducted and if you assume a massive operation could operate year around with the same efficiency, to capture 40% of the CO2, (Sen. President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton says they will capture 45%) would require a 16,700 acre bioreactor — roughly five times the area of Kanopolis Lake. No one even knows how to construct or operate a facility like this yet, but Senators Morris and Emler appear to have all the answers. No one else in the world seems to have any answers because years of research are needed before they can build a commercial plant to capture CO2.
I’m still fuming over the possibility of the Holcomb expansion ever becoming a reality. That just isn’t the right thing to do no matter where it’s located…no one wants to be the ash tray of the Midwest except for a few people in Western Kansas who look at the Holcomb expansion as being their economic salvation. Kansas will become the dumping ground so we can export electricity to surrounding states who want to remain “green”. They might as well make Western Kansas a nuclear waste dump as well. If you leave the decision to Jay Emler, and it means 50 jobs, we’ll be a nuclear waste dump, a home for smelters, chemical plants, and mega hog farms.
Thanks Senator Emler!
This is an election year. Are we going to tolerate this abuse of office, or throw Jay Emler and his cronies out?