Her Dirty Secret

They won't get any help from the governor. In her written responses to the Pitch, Sebelius says she favors federal laws to curb greenhouse gases but is opposed to states taking action on their own.

And time is running out on the Sunflower issue. The KDHE staffer who worked on the air permit tells the Pitch that the decision on whether to issue it was making its way up the ranks to the fifth-floor office of KDHE Secretary Roderick Bremby.

After nearly a year of debate, a decision is likely to come soon. Before the KDHE can issue or renew a permit, the agency is bound by Kansas law to hold public hearings and review input from state residents. Often, such comment periods come and go with little feedback from citizens. But during a three-month period at the end of 2006, the KDHE received more than 650 letters and e-mails about the Sunflower permit. They're enough to fill two cardboard boxes and have kept KDHE staff members tied up for more than six months reading and responding.

Some of the comments urge the KDHE to approve the coal plant in the name of economic development. Sunflower officials collected a dozen city ordinances in favor of the expansion and submitted them in a red binder. A form letter from Garden City produced dozens of identical comments backing the plant.

But the majority of the letters are from citizens from across the state: handwritten notes on pastel-colored stationery alongside typed technical analyses outlining concerns about global warming and water depletion and the health of their children. A minister in Olathe, a farmer in Salina, an oncologist in Wichita, a grandmother in McLouth — all have asked the KDHE to deny Sunflower's air permit.

The KDHE has also heard an earful from officials and organizations beyond Kansas. Attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin submitted a collective letter urging the KDHE to deny the permit. The letter highlights efforts in other states to curb global warming and notes that the KDHE would be "seriously undermining the concerted efforts being undertaken by multiple states" if it approved the coal-plant expansion.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggested that pollution from the new plants would taint a national wilderness 200 miles away. The Environmental Protection Agency feared that the KDHE would give Sunflower a break with lax restrictions on a pollutant that causes acid rain.

But hundreds of letters in the KDHE's boxes aren't addressed to the department at all.

Folders marked "Governor's Office" are full of correspondence from Kansas constituents communicating directly to Sebelius.

According to Sebelius' press secretary, the office received so much mail during the comment period that it lost count of how many letters it forwarded to the KDHE.

Many begin with "Congratulations on your re-election." Some end with simple affirmations such as "I know you can fix this; I trust you."

There are letters from dedicated Democrats who serve as precinct chairs in their hometowns and from lifelong Republicans won over by Sebelius' moderate leadership style. Nearly all of the letters plead with the governor to put a stop to the plants.

"I felt an overwhelming gush of pride when I voted for the first time in a midterm election.... So it disturbs me when I see that the official I helped to elect is actually considering allowing Sunflower Electric Power Corp to construct coal-fired power plants ..." — Kari Cozad, Lawrence

"Please don't be a hypocrite! Your Web site states, 'I'm working to make sure Kansas takes advantage of its opportunity to become a leader in renewable energy.' We cannot become a leader in renewable energy if Kansas builds new coal power.... As of right now, you're all talk, lady!" — Kaedden Timi, Overland Park

"I voted for you in the last election.... However, I am very saddened by your stand on this issue.... It will take very strong leadership from your office to take on the coal lobby. If not you, who? If not now, when?" — Jerry Brown, Salina

"I was your postman about 15 years ago when your family lived on Greenwood in Potwin. I am asking you to intercede in the Holcomb power-plant expansion. I know that you are well aware of the ill effects of the coal power production." — John Baker

The comment period closed in December, but since then, the governor's office has received another 400 e-mails from across the country opposing the plant, Corcoran says. In recent weeks, another 150 letters and e-mails have come from business interests in western Kansas urging the governor to support the expansion.

"This really is a global issue," KDHE spokesman Joe Blubaugh says. "I've seen reports on this from international newspapers. It's really caught the world's eye."

Now that the analysis is done, it's up to Bremby to approve, reject or modify the permit. Blubaugh says the KDHE will give 72 hours' notice before the final announcement.

But that's not the end of what could become a long legal battle. "We're prepared, financially, to go to the mat on this," the Sierra Club's Griffith says.