JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Many Kansas Republicans are critical of the federal government’s efforts to cut carbon emissions from power plants.

Yet the GOP-dominated Legislature anticipated earlier this year that the state would attempt to comply and enacted a law spelling out how.

Then, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tightened standards this week for Kansas in the final version of its rule, aimed at addressing climate change.

EPA’s announcement last week prompted Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and Kansas House energy committee chairman Dennis Hedke to suggest Kansas must reconsider how it responds to the rule.

Under the revised rule, the EPA is giving states an additional two years, until 2022, to start reducing carbon emissions. But Kansas and 15 other states saw the EPA toughen their targets. The Kansas figure is now 43 percent.