Web posted
Monday, February 4, 2008
Compromise emerging on coal
By JOHN HANNA
AP Political Writer
TOPEKA -- The legislative environment seems hostile, but the first shoots of a compromise on energy policy may already have emerged from admittedly rocky Statehouse soil.
Key lawmakers are pushing legislation to allow Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. Last week, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius offered her own plan to permit one plant outside Holcomb if Sunflower would commit to developing wind farms and energy conservation programs.
Some supporters of Sunflower's $3.6 billion project see Sebelius' proposal as a hollow gesture, arguing that she knows building only one plant isn't economically feasible for the utility. But her offer does concede an important argument, that western Kansas can't meet its future power needs without some coal-fired generating capacity.
Likewise, Sebelius and environmentalists see the energy bill as a hollow gesture, even though it would impose the state's first rules on carbon dioxide emissions. They argue the rules are a subterfuge, so lax that they'd actually encourage utilities to build coal-fired plants in Kansas.
But even a few months ago, legislators who drafted the proposed CO2 standards for new power plants hadn't even wanted to debate such an idea. Their legislation is at least a concession to the idea that the subject can't be ignored.
''I think that's significant,'' said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, an Independence Republican. ''I do think this bill is intended as a compromise measure.''
To be sure, neither supporters nor opponents of Sunflower's project are sensing much interest in compromise.
The energy legislation, separate but identical bills in each chamber, was drafted by the Republican chairmen and top Democrats on the House and Senate utilities committees. The chairmen have scheduled hearings this week and plan to have their committees vote Friday.
Sebelius and some legislators suggest they are rushing the legislation. It not only contains the CO2 standards and provisions to allow Sunflower to build its plants, but significant regulatory changes, energy efficiency rules for new state buildings and public schools and a ''net metering'' plan to encourage consumers to put in solar panels. As a separate bill, each could inspire lengthy debate.
But the same governor who argues the energy legislation should be debated ''piece by piece'' insists that legislators must not break up a 21-point health reform plan that commits the state to raising tobacco taxes and phasing in a $227 million increase in spending over five years.
Her goal with the energy bill is clear: Strain out the parts she doesn't like and ensure passage of the proposals she finds acceptable.
Her strategy on the health care bill is the same one Rep. Carl Dean Holmes, the House utilities' committee chairman, is using on the energy legislation. He's tied something that may be hard for some legislators to accept -- the two coal-fired plants -- to proposals they might support.
Holmes, from Liberal, said some fellow Republicans want to make sure Sunflower builds its plants and nothing else.
''I've been lobbied pretty heavily by some of my Republicans here,'' Holmes. ''No energy efficiency. No (carbon) mitigation.''
The bill would make Kansas among a handful of states to impose standards for carbon dioxide emissions without federal rules. It also would impose a $3-per-ton tax on excess emissions if utilities' new power plants didn't meet the standards.
That's little consolation to environmentalists. They note that the rules would allow utilities numerous options for ''offsetting'' emissions -- lowering them on paper to comply -- and argue there really would be no limits at all.
Yet only a few months ago, Senate Utilities Committee Chairman Jay Emler, a Lindsborg Republican, said the state should leave the job of setting standards to the federal government. Holmes said even federal rules would devastate the economy.
Now, both have broached the subject of state standards with their colleagues.
''I think it's huge,'' said Sen. Janis Lee, of Kensington, the top Democrat on Emler's committee.
Sebelius' administration also seemed to take a hard position when her top environmental regulator denied an air-quality permit for Sunflower in October. Both she and Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, co-chairman of an energy policy council, had questioned the need for new coal-fired plants and suggested the state could aggressively promote energy conservation, then meet future power needs with wind farms.
But on Friday, Sebelius said her administration understands western Kansas will need more capacity to generate electricity around the clock.
''Having a coal-fired mix in western Kansas, I think, makes sense,'' she said. ''I don't think we can get 10 years down the road to clean coal without some mixture of coal, but to me you do as much as we need but as little as possible.''
Finally, it's worth remembering that another debate that seemed even more contentious ended with bipartisan legislation.
In 1993, business groups and their GOP allies were pushing changes in the workers' compensation system violently opposed by then-Gov. Joan Finney, her fellow Democrats and labor unions. Finney vetoed one Republican bill, and GOP legislators seemed ready to send it back to her immediately.
Yet the big legislative achievement of that year was an overhaul of workers' compensation laws that passed -- unanimously -- in both chambers.
Thus, a compromise on energy legislation this year can't be ruled out.
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