‘A perfect storm’: Cutting emissions by 90%, how will it impact Kansas?

Colter Robinson
·3 min read
1

KANSAS (KSNT) – A suite of rules aimed at reducing pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants goes into effect on July 8. Included in the suite, a requirement to cut coal and gas-fired power plant emissions by 90% has Kansas energy producers concerned.

On April 25, 2024, the Biden Administration announced it would work to cut air, water and land pollution from the power sector.

“These rules call on utilities and states to be full partners in making this transition fair for energy workers and communities,” BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director Jason Walsh said. “It also complements the historic federal investments made by the Biden-Harris administration and the previous Congress, which provide a toolbox of critical investments targeted to the workers and communities experiencing the economic impacts of energy transition.”

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27 News spoke to Kansas Electric Power Cooperative (KEPCo) Senior Vice President Susan B. Cunningham about the suite of rules. Cunningham said KEPCo was very concerned about how the EPA Power Plant Rule will affect reliability and costs for energy in the Sunflower State.

“It seems like we’re heading towards a perfect storm: the EPA’s final rule is going to eliminate (or drastically increase the cost to produce) essential, always-available baseload generation, while at the same time electricity demand is increasing,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said no matter how much renewable energy is produced, it’s still an intermittent energy source and is therefore unreliable.

“The rural Kansans ultimately served by KEPCo need to be assured of reliable electricity supply, at any time of the day, at affordable costs,” Cunningham said.

KEPCo Interim Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer Steve Foss said the rule would likely require powerplants to designate one-third of their energy output to capture carbon. Foss said a huge surge in AI data centers and electric vehicle usage is consuming additional capacity.

“If you can’t do anything about getting more capacity than we have right now, and you’re actually lowering that capacity, that makes a difficult situation to get energy to everyone,” Foss said.

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The White House argues that the private sector can comply with the heightened standards thanks to emissions-reducing technologies. Foss says the technology to capture CO2 emissions has yet to be developed. He said four sites in the world have appropriate carbon capture technology and only one of them is in the USA.

“EPA analysis also finds that power companies can comply with the standards while meeting grid reliability, even when considering increased load growth,” the White House published in a press release.

The Biden Administration is highlighting the potential health benefits of the rule including:

  • Eliminating up to 1,200 avoided premature deaths

  • 870 avoided hospital and emergency room visits

  • 1,900 avoided cases of asthma onset

  • 360,000 avoided cases of asthma symptoms

  • 48,000 avoided school absence days

  • 57,000 lost workdays

“EPA does not expect this rule to affect the current operations of power plants, and therefore anticipates no impacts to electricity generation or grid reliability,” the White House said. “This rule reflects the Administration’s commitment to reduce pollution from the power sector while providing long-term regulatory certainty and operational flexibility.”

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On May 9, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a petition against the EPA’s new suite of rules. 25 other states filed a separate lawsuit alleging the final rules exceed the EPA’s authority, and are otherwise “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law.”

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