Topeka, Kan. - In a decision that will protect public health
and ratepayers, the Kansas Supreme Court today invalidated the air pollution
permit granted to Sunflower Electric Power Corp. by the Kansas Department of
Health and Environment in 2010. The permit must be reconsidered by KDHE and all
current air pollution regulations must be applied. With new standards in effect
since the project was first proposed, the outlook of the expansion plant
legally meeting those standards or finding financial backing for unneeded
coal-fired generation is dim.
“The proposed Holcomb coal plant is now a fading mirage on the plains,” said Holly
Bender, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign. “As states
embrace renewable energy and utilities are locking in contracts for clean
energy at record low prices, there just isn't a need for the dirty, expensive
energy that Sunflower Electric is looking to sell.”
The proposed coal plant, also known as Holcomb II, was the most intensely
contested coal plant in Kansas history, as well as one of the most
controversial permits ever considered by KDHE. If built, the new plant would
release thousands of pounds of toxic pollution in Kansas while the power it
generates would belong to Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a
Colorado-based utility.
