Holcomb coal plant on a slow-burning fuse

Far from marble political palaces in Topeka and Washington, an imposing $2.8 billion tower of power was to have risen from nondescript terrain in southwest Kansas.

Development of an 895-megawatt, coal-fired electric generating station near Holcomb has yet to take root in accordance with a compromise hammered out four years ago by Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson and the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature.

Parkinson's "green" agenda of wind farms and renewable energy standards moved ahead, but Sunflower Electric Power Corp.'s vision of launching construction of a second unit in Finney County has been sidetracked.

"We've seen the expansion of wind, but we haven't seen the building of that power plant," Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, an advocate of Sunflower's project, said in an interview. "I think that's lamentable for it not to happen."

The saga of this proposed coal-burning facility is a tangled crossfire by political and legal sharpshooters. Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius withheld a permit sought by Sunflower in 2007. Enraged GOP legislators passed four bills — three in 2008 and one in 2009 — aimed at breaking the logjam. Sebelius vetoed them all. After she departed to join the administration of President Barack Obama, Parkinson used newfound power as governor in 2009 to become a surprise deal broker.

The green-for-coal arrangement allowed Sunflower to secure the state permit necessary to proceed in 2010, but state and federal lawsuits filed by interests seeking to block expansion of the coal footprint in Kansas became a barbed-wire restraint that has shown few signs of weakening.

In May, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a request from Sunflower to overturn a 2012 federal judge's ruling that put the project on hold. The decision meant the Rural Utilities Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, must complete an environmental study before deciding whether to grant federal consent for the new unit.

"Until the plant receives a full environmental review, this unnecessary, money-losing pollution project is done." " said Amanda Goodin, an attorney with the California environmental law group Earthjustice, which represents the Sierra Club.

Election and re-election of Obama didn't help Sunflower's case for erecting a new plant designed to burn coal — a fuel source providing 40 percent of the nation's electricity.

The Obama administration began development of carbon pollution regulations for newly built coal plants during the first term. On Tuesday, the Democratic chief executive issued directives to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to come up with carbon standards for existing coal-fired plants.

Cindy Hertel, spokeswoman for Hays-based Sunflower, said litigation and policy complications hadn’t soured the utility cooperative on the idea of adding a second generating unit to the Holcomb station. Much of the power would be exported and consumed by customers of a Colorado cooperative with a long-standing partnership with Sunflower.

"Our board still views generation diversity as the way to keep member rates as affordable as possible," Hertel said.

Sunflower provides electricity to about 400,000 Kansans. The new plant would double that capacity, but three-fourths of the energy would be reserved for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, of Westminster, Colo. Tri-State is a wholesale supplier owned by the 44 cooperatives throughout a 200,000-square-mile service territory across Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Obama's regulatory quest at EPA caught the attention of U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, the 2nd District Republican serving Topeka, and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Manhattan Republican who previously held the 1st District House seat.

"One of the president's advisers even said, 'A war on coal is exactly what's needed,' " Jenkins said. "In my state, where coal supplies nearly 75 percent of the electricity and coal plants support thousands of jobs, I don't think a 'war on coal' is what Kansans need."

Moran said Obama's tactic of seeking executive branch action rather than in collaboration with Congress reflected a pattern of overreach that defines the Democratic administration. Expansion of limitations on coal consumption as a home-grown energy source will drive businesses to countries that have a commitment to growing their economies regardless of environmental consequences, he said.

"The reality is President Obama's plan will do little to curb emissions at great cost to the American work force," Moran said. "States like ours — Kansas — which rely upon coal for electricity and have a large manufacturing base — would be especially hurt."

The work by Sunflower and Tri-State to develop coal-fueled generation at Holcomb stretches back eight years. The associations announced in 2005 an agreement on construction of new power facilities. Originally, the project called for three units with a total capacity of 2,100 megawatts. That was trimmed by one-third before the endeavor ran into state regulatory woes, Sebelius' veto pen and litigation.