More bad news for coal / good news for humanity. This is a particularly delicious morsel, to be savored slowly, like a fine truffle.
For years now, a power company called Sunflower has been pushing to build two 700MW coal-fired power plants in Kansas, backed by the usual happy-horseshit PR about how clean and modern and awesome the plants would be.
Then there was a public comment period, and guess what? The public wasn’t into it. And also, remember when the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could regulate CO2 as an air pollutant? Turns out that gave some air quality people some ideas.
Or at least one air quality guy. My new hero, Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, gave Sunflower an answer today: Oh hell no.
“I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing,” said Bremby.
…
“Denying the Sunflower air quality permit, combined with creating sound policy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can facilitate the development of clean and renewable energy to protect the health and environment of Kansans,” said Bremby.
This is the first time a coal plant air permit application has ever been denied on the basis of CO2 emissions. Wooord up!
(And crap, just as I was in the middle of writing about this, the WaPo beat me to it with a front-page story. Go read that.)
