Other states have listed carbon dioxide and its health risks to deny permits, according to the Enviromental News Network, but Kansas is the first state to base its decision on CO2 emissions alone.
Kansas cited a Supreme Court ruling which filed carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the clean air act – the result of a case between Massachusetts and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The rejection, Weird News predicts, will set a model other states are likely to follow. Specifically mentioned was California's lawsuit against the EPA for failing to constrain vehicle CO2 emissions.
Carbon dioxide emissions, which coal plants are the leading emitters of, make up 85 percent of greenhouse gases, says ENN.
The coal plant developer and some Kansas lawmakers, ENN reports, are expected to appeal the case calling the decision “short sighted.”
