Posted on Wed, Apr. 15, 2009

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Tiahrt blasts Sebelius over coal-plant veto, offers to debate

BY DION LEFLER

The Wichita Eagle

The day after Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill to authorize two western Kansas coal plants, Rep. Todd Tiahrt criticized her and said he doesn't think that it's settled science that carbon emissions cause global warming.

"I'd be glad to have that debate with her or anybody else," Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said in a speech Tuesday to the Wichita Independent Business Association.

A spokeswoman for the governor said Sebelius stands by her veto statement in which she said the coal plants would be a bad idea for Kansas because the state would get the pollution while the bulk of the energy generated would be sent out of state.

The coal plants would be built near Holcomb and would produce 1,400 megawatts of energy -- 200 for Kansas and 1,200 for power co-ops in neighboring states.

The plants would generate about 11 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution a year.

Tiahrt, who officially launched his campaign for Senate this month, said he sees no problem with Kansas producing power for other states.

"Excuse me, when was it ever the wrong thing to export products from Kansas?" Tiahrt said, drawing cheers when he compared exporting electricity to exporting Kansas meat, grain and aircraft.

Sebelius spokeswoman Beth Martino said the governor thinks that likening the coal plants to aircraft and agricultural production is a false comparison because those industries don't generate nearly as much pollution compared to the economic benefits they bring.

Possibly the starkest disagreement between the governor and Tiahrt is over the human factor in global climate change.

Sebelius has consistently said that she agrees with the overwhelming majority of climate scientists, who link human-caused production of carbon dioxide -- a byproduct of burning fossil fuels -- with increases in global temperature.

After his speech, Tiahrt said he thinks climate change is a natural phenomenon and that ice core samples show that the Earth has been much warmer and had much higher carbon dioxide levels over the millennia.

"It's not settled science by any means," he said.

And Tiahrt said that even if one accepts that carbon dioxide is causing global warming, the Holcomb plants wouldn't be a problem because its proponents are planning to use algae to lock in the carbon, which could then be used for additional energy production or agricultural feed.

The Sebelius administration has said that the algae sequestration plan has been proven impractical and that it makes far more sense for Kansas to tap its abundant wind to generate electricity.

Reach Dion Lefler at 316-268-6527.

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