By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — American Lung Association advocacy director Sara Prem doesn’t want to internalize consequences of the Hays-based Sunflower Electric Power Corp. securing a two-year exemption from tighter limits on pollution at its electricity plant in southwest Kansas.
Sunflower’s generating station at Holcomb was among 68 coal plants in two-dozen states given permission by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sidestep elevated mercury and arsenic controls set to take effect in July 2027. The reprieve was tied to President Donald Trump’s executive order in April that said lack of technology and national security considerations could make compliance too onerous for U.S. plants generating power by burning coal.
“We’re creating the risk of more pollution in that community,” Prem said. “With these coal plants, you’re getting a lot of pollutants. It’s not just mercury. Inhaling those particulates can lead to a wide range of health effects.”
She said amplified restraints on emissions from coal plants could save lives because reliance on the fossil fuel damaged people’s lungs, made children susceptible to illness and contributed to climate problems.
The Trump administration shouldn’t have abandoned reforms President Joe Biden delivered to the country’s 200 coal-fired facilities, Prem said.
In 2024, Biden’s EPA directed utilities to adhere to elevated emission standards for toxic metals and to implement a 70% reduction for mercury releases at plants fueled by brown coal. The Democratic president required generating stations making use of coal to address 90% of carbon pollution.
To qualify for Trump’s presidential exemption, Sunflower Electric was told to send an email request to the EPA and await the president’s response. Sunflower Electric was the lone coal plant in Kansas to get an exemption, but others were awarded in Oklahoma and Missouri.
Sunflower Electric, which is owned by cooperatives serving 58 counties in central and western Kansas, didn’t respond to requests for comment about the exemption. On social media, Sunflower Electric celebrated Trump’s work to derail Biden’s amended emission rules.
“Sunflower is encouraged by the EPA’s recent actions to address regulations impacting electric cooperatives,” Sunflower Electric said. “As electricity demand soars, it’s essential to have policies that ensure reliable, affordable power while protecting the environment.”
The Holcomb plant years ago deployed scrubbers and other technology to limit release of pollution in a process that burned coal, heated water and pushed turbines to generate electricity.
In March, Sunflower Electric announced start of construction on its third solar power project. The facility near Dodge City would — if completed — be the largest solar complex in Kansas. The cooperative previously collaborated on solar projects near Russell and closer to the Holcomb coal plant in Johnson City.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported coal’s share of the nation’s power generation had fallen under 20% after supplying approximately half of the country’s electricity in 2000. Natural gas and renewable sources, including solar and wind, absorbed coal’s market share.
Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, said the reprieve for coal plants addressed “unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable” rules advanced late in Biden’s term. The association said Biden’s rules would have been costly to utility companies.
“They will jeopardize the reliability of the electric grid for as long as they remain in effect,” Matheson said.
The federal Clean Air Act included provisions enabling a U.S. president to temporarily exempt industrial sites from new regulations.
Trump said the exemptions were necessary because emission-control technology required to meet Biden’s mandate wasn’t widely available in a commercially viable form. In addition, the president said adherence to his predecessor’s rules raised “the unacceptable risk of the shutdown of many coal-fired power plants, eliminating thousands of jobs, placing our electrical grid at risk and threatening broader, harmful economic and energy security effects.”
“The (Biden) rule places severe burdens on coal-fired power plants and, through its indirect effects, on the viability of our nation’s coal sector,” Trump’s order said.
A coalition of 12 environmental and community organizations filed a lawsuit in June against the Trump administration for the alleged illegal use of presidential authority for benefit of the exemptions.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the majority of coal plants given exemptions had cleaning equipment installed that could meet — or has met — the safer pollution limits. The council said one-fourth of coal units receiving an exemption were scheduled to retire within 5 years.
Prem, the Kansas and Nebraska advocate for the American Lung Association, said Trump’s bid to breathe life into the coal industry meant exempted coal-burning units could avoid installing continuous monitoring equipment to alert communities of excessive emissions.
The real-time data was to have been provided to regulators to track compliance with emissions restrictions, she said.
“We’ve created a situation where they’re allowed less transparency,” Prem said.