TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The permit allowing a new coal-fired power
plant in southwest Kansas is signed by the state’s top
environmental regulator and not Gov. Mark Parkinson.
But Parkinson’s fingerprints are on the document nonetheless.
Environmentalists had viewed the decision and its timing last
week as inevitable and remain suspicious that Parkinson was
directly involved. Supporters of the $2.8 billion project take the
governor at his word that he didn’t apply the pressure to get the
permit issued. Yet they still see Parkinson as important to
Sunflower’s getting the go-ahead.
Parkinson brokered a deal with the Hays-based company in April
2009, allowing the coal plant. Otherwise, the Democratic
administration might still be locked in a stalemate with Sunflower
and its allies in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
