BREAKING: Poll shows that Kansans overwhelmingly reject coal plants

By Diane Silver

Even in Kansas -- even in western Kansas -- people don't want to see new coal plants built. That's the word from a poll of 1,007 Kansans that was released today.

By a two-to-one margin, the poll found that Kansans support the Department of Health and Environment's rejection of two coal plants planned for Holcomb in the western part of the state.

Even those living in the 1st Congressional District, which takes in all of western Kansas, support rejection of the coal plants by a slim majority.

These findings could potentially have huge implications.

For Kansas, this could mean that the expected legislative attempt to resurrect the coal project may be dead on arrival. This is especially important because both houses of the Legislature are led by lawmakers from the west. Both House Speaker Melvin Neufeld and Senate President Steve Morris have vowed to take action to bring the coal plants back to life.

These poll results make it much harder -- if not impossible -- for Neufeld and Morris to claim that Kansans actually want these plants. The poll makes it darn near impossible for the two to claim that even their own constituents want the plants.

However, I think the implications of this poll go beyond the Sunflower State. The poll shows a keen awareness and concern about global warming in, of all places, out - in - the - middle - of - nowhere and terminally conservative Kansas.

Even out here, people get it.

You can download details of the poll , which was done by Cooper & Secrest Associates of Alexandria, Va., for The Land Institute, a Salina-based organization.

UPDATE

More on the poll and legislative reaction.