EPA spars with Kansas over Sunflower coal-fired power plant

Nov 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Karen Dillon The Kansas City Star, Mo.

The long, epic fight over whether to build a coal-fired power plant in western Kansas has taken yet another strange twist:

A federal agency is accusing a state agency of telling tall tales to the highest court in Kansas.

The battle over the Sunflower coal-fired power plant currently is before the Kansas Supreme Court.

The state maintains the pollution levels it allowed in a permit to build the plant are safe for humans. The Sierra Club has filed a lawsuit saying they're not.

They're not, the Environmental Protection Agency has told the state in letters and discussions over the past two years.

But in their written arguments last month to the Supreme Court, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) attorneys may have told a stretcher.

"EPA has no substantial objection to the issuance of the construction permit," KDHE attorneys wrote.

EPA would not comment for this story, but a letter to KDHE from Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7 administrator, on Monday essentially speaks for itself, a spokesman said.

That letter says that "Kansas incorrectly informed the court" that EPA did not object to the permit.

The letter also said KDHE failed to inform the Supreme Court that it had received three letters from EPA saying the Sunflower permit was not strict enough.

A KDHE spokeswoman said officials would have no comment.

The Sierra Club says it plans to make hay of the inaccurate Kansas statement about emissions in its own Supreme Court arguments.

"EPA has consistently told the state that the permit needed more stringent limits on certain pollutants," Stephanie Cole, spokeswoman for the Sierra Club, said in an interview. "KDHE not only ignored EPA's request to amend the permit to include the more stringent limits, but now KDHE is actually attempting to mischaracterize EPA's position to the court."

Cole also criticized EPA, saying it was time that the federal agency took stronger action.

"EPA has the legal authority to object to the permit," she said.

But for now, the EPA appears content to continue to push Kansas to change the permit.

In the letter on Monday, Brooks wrote that EPA continues to believe that the state could amend the permit to include the federal standards for nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide prior to construction of the plant.

Those standards are not unknown to the state, Brooks said. He pointed out that the state recently issued a permit to another facility that did include those standards.

A Sunflower Electric Power Corp. official said the company would have no comment.

The coal plant fight has been ongoing since 2006 under three governors. Originally projected to be three plants, plans eventually were scaled back to one.

In October 2007, then-KDHE Secretary Roderick Bremby rejected the Sunflower permit -- it was the first time in the United States a permit had been blocked based on concerns over greenhouse gases.

After Gov. Kathleen Sebelius left for a Cabinet position under President Barack Obama, her successor, Gov. Mark Parkinson, reached a settlement with Sunflower and agreed to let one plant be built.

But the plant is on hold because of the Supreme Court case, which may take months more to resolve.

In fact, this summer Kansas gave Sunflower a break -- an unusual extension or stay on its construction permit. The extension allows Sunflower to delay construction of the plant until court cases are resolved. Generally permits have an 18-month lifespan.

To reach Karen Dillon, call 816-234-4430 or send email to kdillon@kcstar.com.