Great news for the climate. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment. Read the Washington Post story here.

Kansas has stepped up to help lead the nation away from the dirty energy technologies and towards smart energy solutions. Virginia should follow Kansas’ lead and do its part to help fight global warming by finding cleaner, better ways to produce energy, a goal that does not include allowing Dominion Virginia Power build their proposed coal-fired power plant in Wise County. As most of you probably know, CCAN is part of a major effort to stop Dominion’s proposed power plant.

Kansas’s Sunflower Electric Power, a rural electrical cooperative, wanted to build the pair of big, 700-megawatt, coal-fired plants in order to supply power to parts of Kansas and fast-growing eastern Colorado. Similarly, Dominion claims they need to build the Wise County power plant to meet the growing demand for electricity in Virginia, especially as the population in Northern Virginia explodes.

One interesting note is that Kansas, like Virginia, is not exactly committed to the idea of conserving energy. In fact Kansas and Virginia are in a three-way tie (along with Wyoming) for last in the nation in spending on demand-side management programs according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. Those three are the only states that spent absolutely nothing on demand-side conservation.

Despite their lack of interest in energy efficiency and conservation programs in the past, Kansas yesterday reversed course and put climate and health concerns first. Instead of a new coal plant, Kansas has committed to taking a path to a clean energy future.

Dominion has been using the threat of rolling blackouts for a while now. Yet Dominion’s threats are unfounded. Virginia can do better — much better – on energy efficiency and renewable energy, making a new coal plant unnecessary.

CCAN and its coalition members — the Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, and the Southern Environmental Law Center — are fighting Dominion’s proposed coal plant in the courtroom, at the statehouse, and on the street. The victory in Kansas gives us something to point to to show that wise energy decisions are being made in the U.S. right now!

• The bill’s climate pollution reduction targets are NOT in line with current global warming scientific projections. The pollution caps in the bill aim to reduce total U.S. global warming emissions by about 11% by 2020 and by just over 50% by 2050. According to the current science, the United States must reduce its total global warming emissions by at least 15% by 2020 and by at least 80% by 2050. Period.

• The bill also allows many polluters to opt out of REAL climate pollution reduction techologies at their facilities by buying “offsets”. The bill currently allows companies to exceed their pollution limits by paying sources not covered by the program to reduce emissions. nsuring that a ton of pollution from such