Coal power plant air permit denied because of CO2 emissions!

Great news, and a first, Kansas has become the first state in the USA to turn down a power plants permit application because of the damage caused by co2. In fact, i`m not aware of this having happened anywhere in the world before.

"I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing," said Bremby.

"Denying the Sunflower air quality permit, combined with creating sound policy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can facilitate the development of clean and renewable energy to protect the health and environment of Kansans," said Bremby.

Story in Washington Post via Grist.

The impact of this is huge, not only in political terms.

The Kansas agency's decision caps a controversy over a proposal by Sunflower Electric Power, a rural electrical cooperative, to build a pair of big, 700-megawatt, coal-fired plants in Holcomb, a town in the western part of the state, at a cost of about $3.6 billion. One unit would have supplied power to parts of Kansas; the other, to be owned by another rural co-op, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, would have provided electricity to fast-growing eastern Colorado.

Together the plants would have produced 11 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, nearly as much as a group of eight Northeastern states hope to save by 2020 through a mandatory cap-and-trade program they plan to impose. The attorneys general from those states had written a letter opposing the permit.

I wouldn't go inesting your cash in coal fired power stations, the hundereds that looked to be built a few years back seem to be dashing on the rocks, this is only the latest setback for coal and piece of good news for the world.

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