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By SARAH KESSINGER
Harris News Service
TOPEKA -- A House committee agreed Wednesday to introduce a bill on Sunflower Electric's quest for a state permit to build two coal-fired electricity plants in southwest Kansas.
But the committee has yet to see the measure, which remains in the drafting process.
"The bill Sunflower is working on is expected to be prepared and ready for introduction next week, hopefully on Tuesday," Steve Miller, the Hays-based company's spokesman, said in an e-mail later in the day.
House Energy and Utilities Chairman Carl Holmes, R-Liberal, who supports the Sunflower project, declined to comment on what the bill would include. Other committee members said they'd not seen details.
Senate President Steve Morris said later he expects a similar bill to be introduced soon in the Senate's utilities committee.
Morris, who also supports the project, doesn't expect the legislation to direct a reversal of a regulator's denial of Sunflower's permit to build the plants.
But he expects it could try to indirectly reverse it by changing the state's regulatory system for air-quality permits, which is what Sunflower would need to build the two 700-megawatt generators.
The $3.6 billion project was denied by Kansas Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby in October. Bremby cited the plants' 11 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which would contribute to global warming, as the reason for denial.
"I'm hoping for a compromise," said Topeka Rep. Annie Kuether, the ranking Democrat on the House energy panel. "I think a lot of people have concerns on both sides of the issue."
A Supreme Court case is pending on Sunflower's appeal of the denial. A hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Kuether said the Legislature should move ahead on the issue because the court might not rule before the session ends later this spring.
"Waiting might chafe western Kansans who want to see something done," she said.
Opponents of the plant, however, suggest the state hold off on more coal and look to renewable power -- such as wind, geothermal and solar -- while also cutting energy use through new efficiency steps.
Holmes plans to meet today with a subcommittee of the Kansas Energy Council to begin planning a study of Kansas' future needs for steady sources of power, also known as "baseload."
Currently, baseload in Kansas primarily is coal with some natural gas and nuclear power.
A growing number of wind farms also provide intermittent electricity to some of the state's utilities.
"We need to try and focus on what we'll need," Holmes said of Kansans' growing baseload demand.
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