Its inauguration in July, 1978 was heralded with a visit by Vice President Walter Mondale praising its use of domestic coal reserves at a time when many power stations were still using imported oil.

The opening ceremonies included a performance by the US Army Golden Knights parachute team, and the arrival of a special train carrying company officials and state dignitaries from Topeka, Kansas.

The remaining 2/3 of the energy is rejected to the environment via cooling water evaporated as low-grade waste heat with poor thermodynamic availability.

The waste heat comes from evaporation of cooling water after it is used to condense the highly purified, low temperature steam that exits the turbines after driving the electric power generator.

According to Moyers and Company web site as of September 18, 2013 Jeffrey EC ranked 12th of the 50 dirtiest American power plants and generated 14.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2011.