Damage Control

By last week, the Star was reporting that Great Plains Energy had "backed off" its proposal to build two power plants and was focusing all of its attention on the Weston site. Additionally, the company pointed to its offer to retrofit its existing La Cygne and Iatan plants with newer pollution-control technology, as well as a proposal to get 200 megawatts of wind power up and running at the same time as the new Weston plant. These details had been the main focus of the public forums in June.

Close observers note that these improvements shouldn't be seen as Great Plains doing any favors for the community -- the Clean Air Act requires a power company to add new pollution-control technology when it modifies an old plant anyway. Great Plains might also be feeling pressure to help the region comply with the EPA's new ozone standards, the ones Kansas City is expected to exceed in the coming months.

"It's very difficult to get these companies looking in another direction," says Charles Benjamin, a Sierra Club lobbyist and lawyer based in Lawrence. "These interests come in and ask for the moon, the stars, the sky and the universe, and then they settle for the moon and sun and say, 'Aren't we nice guys,' when they need to be doing this anyway. They say, 'We'll clean up our existing act, look at this wind stuff, but only if we're allowed to get our new coal-fired plant.'"

Last week's announcement came as a surprise to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which is in charge of permitting for the Atchison plant.

"We have had no direct contact with Great Plains on that issue," says Clark Duffy, the bureau director of air and radiation for the KDHE. He says he learned about Great Plains' new position only when he read about it in the Star. "We see that the CEO was quoted saying that their plans are changing. I'm sure they will [let the KDHE know their intentions] in due course."

Blakley remains skeptical. "I think it's great they've come this far since September," she says. "They've come from trying to keep plans for building two coal-burning power plants from the public to this project, where they want to mitigate pollution at existing plants, invest in wind and invest in efficiency." But, she says, "They still are not really getting it. They're putting Band-Aids on it ... They're still seeking permits, and why should we trust them?