Fact checking the Kansas House on climate change & coal

The Climate and Energy Project does a great job of fact-checking the House debate on the Holcomb coal plant bills. No surprise, but there are more than a few errors.

Coal Bills: A "danger buffet" that would turn Kansas into the "astray of the Midwest"

By Diane Silver

Not everyone is pleased with the bills just introduced into the Kansas Legislature that would resurrect the two Holcomb coal plants.

The Climate and Energy Project blog calls the bills a "danger buffet."

First and foremost, it’s really hard to build new coal plants that will spew 11 million new tons of CO2 into the air, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I think therapists refer to this phenomena as “magical thinking.”

The KC Star reports that Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club’s Midwest Clean Energy Campaign, says the legislation could make Kansas the “ashtray of the Midwest.

“Kansas is the first state that we know that is proposing to accelerate global warming,” Nilles said. “That is a real black eye for Kansas to be the one state right now proposing to accelerate global warming.”