Philadelphia (Platts)--6Mar2008

The Kansas House of Representatives late Wednesday approved a compromise
energy bill that says Kansas' Secretary of Health and Environment does not
have authority to deny a power plant air permit based on greenhouse-gas
emissions.

The compromise measure also establishes a mandatory renewable portfolio
standard for Kansas.

The legislation, which emerged from a House-Senate conference committee
Wednesday, could help to revive Sunflower Electric Power's plan to build two
700-MW coal-fired units at its Holcomb plant in western Kansas. The bill
now moves to be considered by the Kansas Senate.

The measure's renewable-energy provision calls for a 10% RPS by 2012, a
15% RPS in 2016, and a 20% RPS in 2020. Other elements of the bill set mercury
emission limits, establish a net metering program for solar projects, and
create the Electric Generation, Science and Technology Commission, which would
provide science-based energy policy recommendations to state legislators.

Sunflower President and CEO Earl Watkins praised the House's action.
"While we have work ahead of us, the House action ... addresses concerns we
and others across Kansas have with the [Kansas Department of Health and
Environment] permitting process."

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has not weighed in yet on the
compromise bill, but she indicated earlier that she would veto any measure
that, in her view, stripped the Secretary of Health and Environment of any
powers. The House vote in favor of the compromise bill was 75-to-47, short of
the 84 votes the House would need to override any veto from Sebelius.