November 21, 2005
Sierra Club request for KCP&L shareholder resolution
Contact: Wallace McMullen, 502-271-7045 or
Craig Volland, 913-788-7336
Today the Sierra Club filed a shareholder resolution calling on Great Plains Energy, the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light, to analyze and report to the shareholders on the financial impact a tax on carbon dioxide
emissions will have on the company.
The coal-burning power plants operated by Kansas City Power & Light emit millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually. This is of great concern because carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming.
The resolution filed by the Sierra Club points out that the CEO of Duke Energy Corporation, Paul Anderson, has called for a mandatory national carbon tax in order to ensure that financial impacts are distributed appropriately as the nation takes steps to reduce the carbon intensity of our economy, and that the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California has issued a ruling requiring large electric utilities to explicitly account for the financial risk associated with greenhouse gas emissions by incorporating costs of between $8 and $25 per ton of CO2 emissions in their long range planning for electric generation capacity.
“Public concern about global warming has become increasingly heightened in recent years, especially with the severity of hurricanes Katrina and Rita this summer,” said Carla Klein, the Missouri Sierra Club Program Director. “With KCPL emitting over 20 million tons of CO2 per year, a tax on these emissions could have a major impact on the firm, and on the cost of electricity in the Kansas City area. The company management has not informed shareholders of this risk, and we think the investors deserve to know about it.”
Shareholders should have an opportunity to vote on the Sierra Club resolution in April, 2006.