The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. — Pigs became a favorite metaphor as legislators debated proposals clearing the way for two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas and restricting the power of the regulator who’s blocked them.

For critics, the coal plants were the pigs. Extra provisions attached to each of three bills, “green” or otherwise, were described alternatively as lipstick, dresses and, finally, a tiara.

Supporters called the final bill the “Economic Stimulus Act of 2008” and tied the plants to economic development projects in other parts of the state in hopes of luring enough votes to override the expected veto.

The tactic probably will fail. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has all but promised to veto the measure, just as she rejected the two previous ones, and supporters still don’t appear to have enough votes to override her in the House.

“It’s one more bad choice that was made to sacrifice legitimate economic proposals and try once again to, you know, drive a policy that I was not going to sign in the first place,” Sebelius said during a Thursday news conference.

Sunflower Electric Power Corp. wants to build the two plants outside Holcomb, in Finney County. Each plant would be 700 megawatts, and the 1,400 megawatts of generating capacity would be enough to meet the peak needs of 700,000 households, according to one state estimate.

Sunflower, based in Hays, plans to sell 86 percent of the new power to two out-of-state partners who are crucial to financing the project.

In October, Rod Bremby, Sebelius’ secretary of health and environment, denied an air-quality permit to Sunflower, citing the plants’ potential carbon dioxide emissions of up to 11 million tons a year. Many scientists link such man-made greenhouse gases to global warming.

Many legislators believe Bremby exceeded his authority and, because the state still has no standards on CO2, created regulatory uncertainty that damaged the state’s business climate. Internal government e-mails show his decision is an issue for Hyperion Resources Inc., of Dallas, as it considers where to build a $10 billion oil refinery.

And so Sunflower’s allies referred to the final measure as the “stimulus bill.” Legislative aides even, annoyingly, insisted on correcting reporters who didn’t use the term in asking when debates and votes would occur.

“It’s not about not energy. It’s not about CO2. It’s about economic development,” said House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, an Ingalls Republican who strongly supports the plants. “You’re either for economic development, or you’re against it. And we’ll find out.”

All three bills allowed Sunflower to reapply for its air-quality permit under rules designed to force Bremby to approve it.

All three prohibited Bremby from using the secretary’s emergency power to protect public health and the environment — which he cited in his decision on Sunflower’s project — to reject an air-quality permit. Finally, they limited his ability to set new air-quality standards without legislative approval.

Given the bipartisan support for Sunflower’s project, its allies might have been able to push those provisions through the Legislature on their own, especially given the backing of Neufeld and Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican.