Environmental Activists Decry Dismissal Of Top Kansas Environmental Regulator

ST. LOUIS—The election-day decision by Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson (D) to dismiss the state’s top environmental regulator has come under sharp criticism from environmental activists, who accused Parkinson of helping a proposed expansion of a coal-fired power plant in the western part of the state escape regulatory scrutiny.

Parkinson, who did not run for re-election and whose term ends in January 2011, removed Roderick Bremby from his position as secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) on Nov. 2, saying he wanted Bremby to help on a transition team in the period before incoming Governor-elect Sam Brownback ...