Explain Bremby firing

Kansans deserve more information about Gov. Mark Parkinson’s firing of Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby, reportedly after Bremby declined to take on a job in the gubernatorial transition.

While it’s true that governors can hire and fire Cabinet secretaries as they like, and departures are to be expected as Parkinson prepares to leaves office in early January, the timing of Bremby’s unexplained removal fuels suspicion that it involved the pending state permit for Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s 895-megawatt coal-fired power-plant expansion near Holcomb.

If so, that would raise questions about whether Parkinson’s top priority was protecting Kansans’ health and environment, or protecting his 2009 deal with Sunflower and pro-plant lawmakers to allow a modified expansion.

When Parkinson negotiated the agreement five days into his tenure — ending the painful and increasingly pointless two-year standoff over the plant and other energy initiatives between the Legislature and former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius — part of the agreement was to limit Bremby’s power to deny an air permit for the scaled-down $2.8 billion project based on concerns about carbon emissions. Now, people are wondering whether Parkinson sacked Bremby to make sure KDHE issued the permit before Jan. 2, when new federal rules for greenhouse-gas emissions take effect.

If the firing was meant to pre-empt a permit denial or expedite approval — and again, Kansans aren’t being told one way or another — it would be a marked departure from how the process is supposed to work.

Sebelius told The Eagle editorial board in mid-2007 that she opposed a Holcomb expansion but would leave the decision to Bremby. Then in October 2007, Bremby denied the plant a permit, gaining national attention by linking the denial to “emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health.”

Two months ago, Parkinson denied that he was doing anything to artificially delay or accelerate the permit process, noting that showing bias in either way would make the process “vulnerable” to legal challenge.

Though this editorial board supported Parkinson’s deal, there are still plenty of questions about whether the plant will or should be built, especially given that Colorado utility Tri-State Generation and Transmission says it has no current need for the power. But if Bremby’s firing was to prevent another denial or ensure a permit dodges new federal rules, Parkinson will have done what the Legislature tried and failed to do — prevent the state’s top environmental regulator from doing his job of protecting Kansas.

— For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published November 5, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Explain Bremby firing."