By Laura Spencer
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-574657.mp3
Kansas City, MO – For six years, the Sierra Club in Kansas and Missouri and a citizens group called Concerned Citizens of Platte County, fought plans by Kansas City Power and Light to build a coal-fired plant, the Iatan-2, near Weston. Officials today (Tuesday) say an agreement meets the needs of both sides. KCUR's Laura Spencer reports.
KCP& L officials and environmental and citizen groups discussed the settlement this morning at the environmentally friendly Discovery Center. The plan calls for the utility to offset global warming emissions at the new plant by investing in renewable energy, like wind farms, as well as cutting pollution from existing plants. In exchange, the groups opposed to the plant will stop the fight and Iatan-2 will be completed by 2010. KCP&L's John Marshall.
MARSHALL: it's really a watershed agreement to really create a path to the future that we believe will do some great things to ensure safety and reliability of energy for the next 10 or so years. (:21)
KCP&L will also fund community projects, including water and traffic upgrades in Weston, and work with the Sierra Club to gain legislative approval of net metering. This would allow residents to generate electricity from solar panels and wind turbines in backyards and sell it back to the utility. Laura Spencer, KCUR News.