By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Ameren has agreed to reduce the pollution coming from its coal-fired power plants in Illinois. It's part of a deal announced this (Wed.) morning with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The utility will install mercury controls on most of its generating units by 2009; it has also promised to significantly cut emissions of soot and the pollutants that make smog.
Ameren says the agreement will allow the utility to reduce its emissions in a coordinated fashion.
It will cost about $2 million at each plant, and customers in Illinois could see an extra $1.25 a month on their bills to help pay for it. Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott calls the agreement "a fantastic deal for Illinois."
Ameren says it will install new equipment at its Coffeen, Duck Creek, Edwards, Hutsonville, Meredosia and Newton Power Stations, which are all owned by Ameren subsidiaries, along with a plant in Joppa, Ill. owned by Electric Energy, Inc.
The Coffeen plant is about 70 miles northeast of St. Louis, in Montgomery County. The Newton plant in Jasper County is about 120 miles east of St. Louis.
Hutsonville is on the Illinois/Indiana border; Duck Creek and Edwards are both near Peoria; and the Meredosia in Morgan County, Ill., is about 100 miles north of St. Louis.