This is a hopeful sign - and it is from what most would consider an unlikely state for such an action. What's the matter with Kansas, indeed. Hopefully, more states will take such actions.

A refreshing delevopment indeed! Notice the power company whines about rates going up and workers being "punished." Why is it "punishment" to save your own planet from destruction? No one ever seems to bring up the flip side of this coin-- reducing energy demand. How much of that additional growth in energy demand is for cooling 4,000 square foot homes and powering commercial-sized applicances in them?

Kansas' governor believes federal regulation is coming soon. How I hope she's right!

Hooray for a politician with cahones! I hear she is on Obama's VP short list. That's some good news for a Monday!

If only the great state of Texas had the vision and political will to do the same. If only the great state of Texas had the ......alas, little chance of that exists here; even though last year for awhile it did appear we might. Instead our N. Texas electric utility(the old TXU) is building three extra large old style coal fired power plants with the blessings of state politicians. I hope they choke on them, I know the rest of us will. And who will bail them out when carbon emissions regulations force the plants closures? Likely, we, the public.

As a resident of Maine, "the tailpipe of the nation," I applaud Gov. Sebelius' courage. I hope whatever she has rubs off on some other pols.

joe maurer,

No offense, but I can't think of anything good that has come out of Texas in recent years. LBJ? GHWB? GWB?

Oh wait, Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower. Never mind. But can't you folks elect some of these good folks instead of the murderous cowboys that have been coming out of there? This nation shouldn't have to be roped, hog-tied, and branded by one more Texan.

too bad it wasn't for producing electricity with coal via solid-oxide fuel cells. They could either halve the coal usage or double their electrical output with a radical reduction in emissions.

I would like to see the governor put up some tax credits for businesses and individuals to reduce their electrical usage from the grid (or even supply excess to the grid).

A politician who stands up for what is right and good for the people ....... What a concept!!

Protests from students at the University of Kansas were instrumental in blocking these new coal plants. To get an idea of how corrupt and wealthy these utilities are--Sunflower promised to give $2.5 million to Kansas State University, if and only if the coal plants received approval.

chloemiam, I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head- It should be apparent to all by now, or at least to those with their eyes open, that those in power do not care one whit about the common folk, the saucy rabble as John Adams called us po' folk. I would refer everyone to a book most here are probably familiar with, A People's History of the United States, to understand how the working class has been dealt with for decades. Politicians who do speak up for their constituents- Paul Wellstone comes to mind- usually don't last too long
Peace

umm, my2sense, there's no way Barack Obama will ever be elected President of the United States. He's running against the folks who own the Democratic Party, for one thing, and likely to be assassinated because of his skin color.

And just to let you know how desperately inadequate both Democratic candidates are: Most Americans want an orderly withdrawal from Iraq; most Americans want a sane economy; most Americans want serious healthcare reform. John McCain is proud to offer *none* of these. And yet Americans prefer him to either of the Democrats. That tells you a lot about what Americans think about the two Democrats--and it's devastating. Wrong sex, wrong color, wrong collection of attributes Americans think are "presidential."

my2senseSays:
Hooray for a politician with cahones! I hear she is on Obama's VP short list. That's some good news for a Monday
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Yea great for That politician but I hear that Obama is all FOR Liquid coal! Unless he's changed his mind. So if he hasn't someehere along the way we need to change his mind, if he makes to final round!

HOORAY for my governor! She makes all we Kansans proud & we'd heard she was planning on doing this from the beginning. Nice to see you still have a conscious Kathleen! Yes, she's on the short list for VP & this is just one of many reasons.

Kudos also to Jack Pelton of Cessna. Hardly ever hear of a big corporate boy in such an industry like the Wichita Air Lobby get involved in such things. I only hope he takes it seriously as well.

What we need to do is harness the wind here - we could power all sorts of cities & counties w/o the harmful pollutants...but then there's protesters all over against erecting wind turbines too - sometimes ya just can't win.

The only losers in this are the small town & rural townsfolk across my great state. They're getting killed by gas prices, can hardly find other employment due to a shrinking industry base & now their bills will skyrocket due to the this Sunflower greed...

DominickJ - you are correct that Obama used to speak out in favor of liquid coal, but he got a lot of flack on that and modified his position to be only for coal with carbon sequestration.

WillieB37 - weird that what you got out of chloemiam's message was that: "It should be apparent to all by now, or at least to those with their eyes open, that those in power do not care one whit about the common folk." You could have picked a thousand articles to justify your position here, but the one you picked was an obvious counter-example: one where someone in power clearly did respond to the voice of the people.

This is the real lesson here, which is actually totally consistent with the fundamental thesis of the People's History book that you alluded to (see jstevens message).

And we're back full circle: it was popular demand that made Obama modify his position on coal. THAT'S what we need! Leaders who actually respond to the will of the people!! Very unlike "I'm the Decider even if it's a stupid decision" Bush.

Way to go, Kansas!! Power to the people!!

Clean Coal...Compassionate Conservative...Scientific Creationism...No Child Left Behind...USAPATRIOT Act...Protect America Act...War on Terror...the irony just keeps coming.

Sure...Sebelius names CO2 (which allows plants/crops/trees to breathe, and 'exhale' O2) as 'pollution' -- while 'hoping' for legislation/taxation regards this sole 'non-pollutant' produced by unregulated coal-plants, and then names Pelton to 'help' with "greenhouse gases" [after Cessna pioneered/popularized unnecessary private-flying -- which places REAL poisons/pollution in the atmosphere's most-vulnerable areas -- just like commercial-flying which is equally-'unnecessary').
CO2 isn't a "greenhouse gas" -- methane/sulfurs, nitrates are.
The issue with coal-fired/unregulated Utilities isn't CO2, it's the mercury/acid-rain they cause.
CO2 is the underpinning/Mythos for Globalist "carbon-taxation", and a ruse for re-instituting dirty/unsafe nuclear/fission power-plants...
[When will folks wake-up, and realize they've been manipulated into 'cheering for exactly the wrong-things, entirely'?]

Oh look, yet another load of capitalist kaka almost dumped on our heads. Thanks to Gov K. for vetoing that! But to be safe, let's call again on our favorite capitalist shaman, O'Bama, for another dose of the hope opiate!

Finally an issue out of Kansas that doesn't involve "Intelligent Design" or some other convoluted sense of logic. And the governor actually has a sense of direction on an important issue. I've been to Kansas and the people I've met there were great. So I know that not all Kansan's are as ignorant as the ID people and it's good to see some sense in their internal government. The governor gives one hope that Kansas is not a lost cause.

Thank you, Gov. Sebeliusm for the veto, and for showing us that Kansas is not the backwater that many make it out to be.

Good for her!!! There's plenty of open space out there for wind mills!!