If you haven't been living in Kansas or Colorado or Texas or anywhere in the Midwest, you have missed what has shaped up to be one of the biggest political fights in quite some time. To summarize the last six to eight months, Sunflower Electric Corp., a Kansas based company, and two out of state partners, teamed up to try to bring two 700 megawatt coal fired electric plants to southwestern Kansas. To build these enormous structures, Sunflower was required to get approval from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, an agency saddled with the unenviable task of determining air quality and other environmentally sensitive issues for utilities and a myriad of other services.
Here is where it gets interesting. The KDHE is run by Rod Bremby (pictured below), a cabinet member of Governor Kathleen Sebelius (also pictured below). Governor Sebelius is staunchly against the new power plants for several reasons, but mainly because of the carbon dioxide that will be put into the air. After considering the permit request, Bremby denied the permit, citing the excess CO2 that would be expended. The problem for those in favor of the project is that CO2 emissions aren't technically recognized as a pollutant for the purposes of the KDHE.
- Rod Bremby
Governor Kathleen Sebelius -After being denied, Republican leaders felt this was a purely political decision and decided to circumvent the KDHE by passing legislation approving the coal-fired electric plants. The problem, though, is that Governor Sebelius continued to stand in the way threatening to veto any legislation related to the plants - and she did.
Feeling they had enough votes to override the veto (2/3 majority required to override the veto, or 84 of 125 in the House and 27 of 40 in the Senate), Republicans began the process to override the veto, which included essentially locking the Representatives and Senators in the Chamber until everyone's vote was cast (and everyone had a chance to "convince" those leaning the other direction that they should switch sides). After all the chaos, which I consider to be Kansas politics at its best, the Senate had enough votes to override the veto (32 of 39 cast), but the House came up a mere 4 votes shy. The veto override was defeated.
The House, led by House Speaker Republican Melvin Neufeld, who, by the way, at the beginning of the debate argued that additional CO2 in the air might actually be good for the environment since plants thrive on CO2, was understandably devastated and vowed to fight on in any way possible. Who knew what they'd decide to do next?
Legislators Decide to Sue Governor Sebelius Over Veto of Coal Plants.
Yesterday the Kansas House of Representatives decided that the only thing left to do was try to sue the Governor for vetoing their bill. They passed a resolution to allow the Legislature to sue the Governor over her decision. Apparently the Republican leadership in the House believed the Governor threatened to sue lawmakers if they overrode her veto, so they are fighting fire with fire.
What Does this Say About Kansas Politics and the Kansas Political Process?
This is clearly politics, and Kansas Politics, at its best. This is straight out of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. There are two sides to a very important issue - the environment. And even though the split is down party lines (other issues make the split easier to envision - big business, government regulation of business, economics, etc.), the reason people are split is because they are actually either for or against the proposed legislation, instead of basing their feelings on the letter denoting the representation of the party.
What is not exciting about this process is the immature holding on of an issue that seems to be dead at this point. What I mean by that is instead of circling the wagons to get some other legislation passed, legislation that has some carrots for some opposing lawmakers to get their votes switched in lieu of a veto, the Republican leadership is threatening to sue the Governor for separation of powers issues. Clearly this is a desperate attempt to shift blame for being unable to come up with the votes needed to override the veto. Everyone knows you can't sue the Governor for overriding a bill - it is a power that enumerated in the Kansas Constitution. A governmental power doesn't get any higher than that.
It is refreshing to see the political process, and the political process in a state like Kansas, really working hard to represent both sides of an issue because their constituents actually support it and because it falls into the party's core values. This is politics at its best, and Kansas Politics at its best.
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