LETTERS: Ask Dahl to support Kansas, first years ago
To the Editor:
Last week 40 Republican members of the Kansas House of Representatives sent a letter to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in support of the Sunflower coal plant expansion at Holcomb.
Representative Don Dahl, Speaker pro tem, was among the legislative leaders who signed onto the letter. The letter supports the construction of the two 700-megawatt coal fired plants and urges KDHE to quickly grant the "clean air" permits needed before construction can begin.
KDHE must weigh the evidence and science of environmental impact by coal plants from its own review and public comments from hearings conducted last fall before issuing the permits. Now the permit process is being influenced by a group of elected officials, of which 22 received campaign contributions from Sunflower.
The electricity generated by the new coal plants will mostly be exported to other states while only 15 percent will be used in Kansas. The coal to fire the plants will be railed from Wyoming and billions of dollars will leave Kansas to pay for the coal.
The water rights to 30,000 acres of Finney County farmland will provide the enormous amounts of cooling water needed for the plants, leading to further depletion of the shrinking Ogalalla Aquifer.
Eastern Kansas and Missouri will get the downwind mercury emissions with every rainfall that will contaminate lakes and streams causing the fish to be dangerous for human consumption. The large amount of CO2 emissions will contribute to the problem of global climate change in Kansas and surrounding states, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that CO2 is a hazardous emission that can be regulated by the EPA.
The supporters of the coal plants tout the economic benefits to the region. If that is the case, why does Sunflower need a 12-year tax abatement?
Please join with me and ask Rep. Don Dahl to support development of environmentally sound renewable energy sources, a good start would be a Renewable Portfolio Standard law to require electrical generating utilities to purchase a set percentage of electricity generated by renewable sources such as wind or solar. Encourage Rep. Dahl to protect and conserve Kansas water resources and air quality instead of supporting projects that enrich large out-of-state coal mining and utility companies.
Kansas State Representative Don Dahl can be contacted by mail: 205 S. Wilson, Hillsboro 67063. Phone: 620-947-5593. E-mail: dahl@house.state.ks.us.
Harry E. Bennett
Marion
