Kansas governor turns away from coal plants

June 27, 2008
By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau

DENVER - A year ago, Kathleen Sebelius was just a Democratic governor in a small, Midwestern, Republican state.

Today, she's a major enemy of the coal industry, a hero of environmentalists and a possible vice presidential choice for Sen. Barack Obama.

Sebelius visited the Denver Athletic Club on Thursday to talk about the war she started with the coal industry when her administration denied a plan to build two big new power plants in western Kansas. Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which supplies electricity to Southwest Colorado, backed the plants with a local partner, Sunflower Electric Power Corp.

Sebelius told the crowd at an event sponsored by Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, that even conservative Kansans worry about coal power.

"What's happened in Kansas in the last six months is really incredible. Citizens became remarkably engaged in the process," Sebelius said.

More coal power plants are on the drawing board, including Desert Rock southwest of Farmington, but both major presidential candidates want to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, a step the Bush administration has resisted.

"This is a tipping point for our state and our country," Sebelius said.

Her administration last year denied plans for the coal plants because of their carbon-dioxide emissions. Her opponents in the Kansas Legislature tried three times to overturn the administration's decision, but they couldn't override Sebelius' veto. This fall, she's helping target legislators she thinks are vulnerable because of their support of the coal plants.

Tri-State spokesman Jim Van Someren said the company is still waiting to see what happens with a lawsuit over the Kansas plants. In the meantime, it has bought gas-fired power to meet summer demand and is increasing its conservation programs. Tri-State also is looking to add renewable-energy generation, and its board will meet next month to weigh its options on future power resources, Van Someren said.

Instead of the coal plants, Sebelius is pushing an energy agenda that focuses on wind power and conservation. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has made a similar strategy his signature issue.

Still, it's tough to explain to people why their utility bill has to rise, Sebelius said.

Previous Kansas administrations looked at power plants based on their cost to consumers.

"If you interpret cost very narrowly, low cost will always end up with coal in a state like Kansas," she said.

Her administration broadened the definition of cost to include the price paid by the environment and the public's health.

Colorado followed her example this spring, when Ritter and other Democrats passed a bill to allow the Public Utilities Commission to consider the future cost of carbon regulation when approving new power plants. The change should make solar- and wind-power plants compare more favorably to coal generators.

"Every major coal group in the country came to Kansas. They figured this was a battle they could win. This is the Heartland," Sebelius said. "If Big Coal couldn't win in Kansas, where could they win?"

Sebelius didn't have much to say about speculation that Obama will choose her as vice president.

"It's very flattering and a little surreal to have that being tossed about. I think it has more to do with the work we've done in Kansas," she said.