The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that it isn't
thrilled with Kansas' proposed plan to allow Sunflower Electric Power
Corp. to build a second coal-burning power plant in Holcomb. We know,
you're all stunned at this shocking and unforeseen development, so take a
deep breath before reading further.
HA! Total JK! Nobody is surprised by this. The latest episode in the Holcomb 2 soap opera was
practically assured months ago, as the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment hurriedly approved the plant's required air-quality permit
before the end of the year, when stricter air-quality rules went into effect.
KDHE didn't include particularly stringent standards, which
caught the feds' eye. Of course, KDHE bureaucrats publicly trash-talking
the EPA probably didn't help their case. Drama! Drama! Drama!
The EPA says the plant would use outdated standards for the amount of the pollutants sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide that it would release. The Associated Press
reports that, in short, the EPA wants the plant to cap hourly
emissions, which the permit doesn't call for. The EPA sent Sunflower a
letter seeking a "dialogue" with the state over that plant. This should
be fun, because the last time KDHE employees interacted with the EPA,
they bragged about using "a few words we can't repeat."
The agency says its concerns are not great enough to try to stop the plant from being built. The Sierra Club is, however suing to stop it.
In related news, the former secretary of KDHE, Rod Bremby, whose
opposition to building more coal plants earned him a pink slip from
former Gov. Mark Parkinson, will finally talk about his firing this
week. He's scheduled to give a talk Thursday at 11 a.m. at Kansas City,
Kansas, Community College. Details here.
Showing 1-1 of 1
The discussion is on wether to use an hourly rate or a monthly rate on nitrous and sulfur emissions. It isn't going to stop the plant from being built. It may affect it's design and operation. I don't see any of the 'green' readers to this story building their own wind turbines. So, suck it!
like
dislike
