HAYS, Kan., Sept. 26, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Holcomb Expansion Project reached a milestone on September 21, 2006 when the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) published the draft PSD Construction Air Permit. The permit will set the emissions limits for the three 700-MW electric generating units to be built at Sunflower's existing plant site south of Holcomb, Kansas.
The public will have an opportunity to review and comment upon any information that Sunflower submitted in support of its application during two public hearings: one in Garden City at 7:00 PM on October 24, and the other in Topeka at 9:00 AM on October 26. This process is used by the KDHE to advise the public of its conclusions regarding Sunflower's permit application which was submitted on February 6, 2006.
Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Inc., the cooperative that will own two of the new plants, and Sunflower met recently with representatives of environmental advocacy groups that requested information from the KDHE concerning the project.
Wayne Penrod, Sunflower's Executive Manager, Environment, noted that the meetings with the Sierra Club and with Environment Colorado were very cordial, and he said the co-ops appreciated the opportunity to meet with these groups to increase their understanding of the project prior to the public hearings.
"We have been quite successful operating the pollution control systems at Holcomb for the last 23 years," Penrod said. "These new plants will feature the newest environmental control technologies making them among the very cleanest coal-based plants in the country."
"These plants," Penrod said, "coupled with Sunflower's purchase of wind energy and the new Bioenergy Center being developed with Kansas State University's National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization (NISTAC) and the Kansas Bioscience Authority will truly be an integrated model for both traditional and renewable energy production other states will strive to achieve in the years to come."
Penrod also said, "We have been meeting with groups of people from all across Kansas, and are excited about their enthusiasm for this project."
Sunflower began these meetings in April and is interested in providing information to groups that want to learn more about the project.
About Sunflower
Sunflower Electric Power Corporation is a regional wholesale power supplier that owns and operates a 595 MW system of gas- and coal-based generating plants and a 1,200-mile transmission system for the needs of its six member cooperatives who serve 118,000 people spread throughout a 21,000 square mile area in western Kansas. Sunflower also provides power to regional utilities in western Kansas and in ten states. Visit Sunflower's website at http://www.sunflower.net
Sunflower's member cooperatives include Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Dighton, Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Ulysses, Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Norton, Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Dodge City, Western Cooperative Electric Association, WaKeeney, and Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Scott City, Kansas.