I'll Be Glad When She is Gone

Governor Kathleen Sebelius and KDHE Secretary Roderick L. Bremby, left, visited with Dan Nagengast and his daughter, Laurel, about the importance of homegrown Kansas products during the Governor's visit to the June 21 Capitol Mid-Week Farmers' Market in Topeka.


Well, y'all might have heard something about the controversy surrounding Sunflower Electric's bid to add to it's coal fired generating plant in Holcomb, KS. The Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Roderick L. Bremby supposedly had the final say. Sunflower's permit was not authorized because the two plants would emit eleven million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Lessee just a second - is CO2 considered a harmful pollutant as per the Federal Clean Air Act? Nope. Is there conclusive scientific proof that CO2 is responsible for global warming? Nope. Is there even consensus on the issue that global warming even exists - particularly NASA's data on oceanic temperatures? Nope.

Mmmkay - then how about the representation of the electorate? Is this Berkeley, where eco-nuts thrive? Nope, this is red state Kansas, where conservative values prevail. Is this the home of a "progressive" governor who is about to leave office and would like a big job in a Democratic administration in Washington? You got it, baybee.

Now, to be fair, another part of the opposition to the plant was the fact that the power from one of the plants would be sent out of state, so Kansas would bear the brunt of the "pollution" for neighboring state's power needs. If CO2 is a pollutant in a destructive sense.

So, the House was primed to try to override the veto, but now that is pretty well out. However, the stink stirred up by this issue has blown us out of the water for consideration for a refinery.

Yes, Kansas was in the running for a brand spankin' new refinery to be built by Hyperion Resources, Inc. - a Dallas based company. "Project Nicole", a $10 billion oil refinery producing 8,000 construction jobs and 1,800 well-paying permanent positions, would have been located in Pottawatomie county. South Dakota was also in the running. In the air quality permit filed with South Dakota, the company claims their plant would emit up to 17 million tons of CO2. There is some contention that Kansas was a fall back state, but Hyperion had to exercise property options in South Dakota or lose them.

Phillips wrote to Kansas commerce secretary David Kerr on Jan. 22 asking for a commitment to approve the air-quality permit if Hyperion applied in Kansas. Bremby replied Feb. 11, "Kansas remains open for business."

Bremby wrote he couldn't commit to issuing the permit but said if Hyperion submitted the same application as they did in South Dakota, there "should not be a problem with issuance."

Sometime around this time, Hyperion told Campbell, the environmental consultant, to stop planning for the Kansas air-quality permit application, Campbell said.

So, lessee here - we have a multibillion dollar corporation who is thinking of building an oil refinery in Kansas. They see a power plant get turned down for cranking out eleven million tons of CO2. They will be cranking out seventeen million tons of CO2. They weren't born in the dark yesterday, regardless of Bremby's assurances. Why even waste any more money on Kansas?

Oh, but what the hey - this will look good on their resumes as friends of the Sierra Club and warm the hearts of liberal politicos nationwide. It's for the children, after all.

Not like our kids aren't gonna need some energy or anything. Aaarrrrggghhh!!!!