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By Sarah Kessinger
Harris News Service
TOPEKA -- Supporters of Sunflower Electric's plans to build coal-fired power plants near Holcomb on Friday criticized a poll released earlier in the week that showed a majority of Kansans back the denial of a state permit for the plants.
"As you know, a poll's outcome can be determined by the way you ask the questions," said Senate President Steve Morris, whose district includes Sunflower's coal complex.
Bob Williams, a Garden City businessman and Sunflower backer, agrees.
"I'm naturally suspicious when people who pay for the poll end up getting the answers they're looking for."
The Sunflower plant is "vital to the economic future of western Kansas," Williams said.
The survey, released by the Land Institute's Climate and Energy Project, was conducted by a national pollster often used by Democratic political candidates, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, to test the waters on a variety of issues.
Its results enter the political fray just as legislators prepare to head to Topeka for their annual session.
Sunflower, meanwhile, is contemplating legislation to reverse the permit decision.
The utility's spokesman, Steve Miller, said they are working on approaches prior to the legislative session, which begins Jan. 15.
"We have several ideas in mind we believe could help move the project forward, but these concepts have not been drafted in bill form at this time," he said.
House Republicans supportive of the effort plan to release their agenda at a press conference later next week.
But Speaker Melvin Neufeld, a Sunflower supporter, denies talk among some lawmakers that he has issued an ultimatum that Sunflower's bill be passed before the House can move to other issues.
"He just wants to make sure state policies and rules and regulations are enforced equitably for all applicants," said Neufeld's spokeswoman Sherriene Jones. "Whether for Sunflower, Westar, a wind farm or natural gas. He wants a fair playing field."
The Land Institute has strongly opposed the plants because of its expected output of millions of tons of carbon dioxide, which contributes to climate change.
The 30-year-old institute's new Climate and Energy Project sought the poll to get a picture of Kansans' views as they promote education and dialogue on energy efficiency and wind power, said project executive director Nancy Jackson.
The approach will include the Legislature, Jackson said, which will receive copies of the poll results.
Sunflower, however, says the November poll's release was timed to influence the Legislature's energy policy decisions. The electric utility is launching its own public relations campaign through a new organization named Alliance for a Sound Energy Policy.
It also released statements Friday from the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Kansas Farm Bureau and the AFL-CIO that criticize the permit's denial.
Sunflower also is waiting on the outcome of a lawsuit it has pending before the Kansas Supreme Court. The case seeks to reverse the permit denial, claiming the state regulator's decision was arbitrary.
Another organization, the Kansas Rural Center, which has opposed Sunflower's devotion to coal-fired electricity, is planning a series of public hearings this year in Kansas on community-owned wind farms.
The plan is to hold the meetings in six communities that have access to transmission lines, said Rural Center executive director Dan Nagengast.
They offer greater potential for widespread economic development, he said.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see how that's going to disperse economies in western Kansas as compared to a single coal plant."
Morris said legislation is being draft that will address a wide array of energy issues. It will promote wind and solar energy as well as coal, he said. But he is unsure the Sunflower decision could be reversed by lawmakers.
"I don't know that we could do that retroactively," he said.
The Supreme Court might move fast enough to address the issue before lawmakers finish their session, Morris added.
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