By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Peabody Energy announced today the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has granted the final mining permit for a $2 billion, coal-fueled power plant planned for southern Illinois.
St. Louis-based Peabody says the new Lively Grove Mine would produce six million tons of coal a year for the Prairie State Energy Campus, including a
1,500-megawatt plant the company plans to build near Marissa in Washington County, Illinois.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has issued an air pollution permit to Peabody for the plant, though a coalition of environmental and public health groups are appealing.
The plant has been hailed as a milestone in bringing back Illinois' ailing coal fields, which have been overlooked in favor of cleaner-burning Western coal.