Kansas: ground zero in battle over coal burning power plants

We blogged about the Kansas official's denial of a permit to build more coal-burning generators there. It now appears Kansas could become the major battleground over the future of coal-burning plants in the U.S. Just as Three Mile Island had a long-term effect on the American nuclear power industry, the fight in Kansas could be decisive. The reason Kansas is crucial: it's the first place CO2 emissions have been used as a basis for rejecting the permit. That ties the rejection directly to global warming. That could be far more powerful for anti-coal arguments than more localized pollution concerns. And there's no way to burn coal and NOT produce CO2.

Numerous coal plants have been turned down in the U.S. in the past eighteen months.

Legislatorsd from western Kansas where theplant was to be built are angry and threatening action. Not so fast. They will hold a hearing in early November. No hurry, the coal has been lying around for millions of years. No matter what the Kansas pols do, ther's likely to be legal action. And there's already been some examination of the legal basis for rejecting the coal plant permit.

Environmental groups are pointing to eind as Kansas's renewable energy for the future. And the state has been taking steps in that direction already. Here's a website that lists all the existing and planned wind energy projects in gusty Kansas. After all Dorothy got blown all the way to Oz from Kansas. That took a lot of energy.