Faux-Environmentalists Point Out High Cost of Building Coal Plants

Link here Midwest Energy News.com.

Power costs from a controversial Illinois coal plant are soaring, creating a major financial burden for towns and utilities that invested in the project, according to a new report. 

Electricity from the Prairie State Energy Campus now costs between 40 and 100 percent more than Peabody Energy originally promised, raising electric bills for 2.5 million ratepayers and costing hundreds of Midwestern towns millions of dollars apiece, according to a detailed financial analysis released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a small organization that works to reduce the nation’s dependence on coal and other non-renewable energy resources. 

“What today’s report shows is that the Prairie State coal plant is turning out to be the financial nightmare that many of us feared when it was first proposed,” said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, a ratepayer- and environmental-advocacy group. 

I wonder how much of the cost can be attributed back to faux-environmental regulations, delays, and a general desire to simply kill the coal industry. Does Sandy have a Plan B if the coal plant is not built?

Posted for archival purposes only. I don't follow coal; some MDW readers do.

More of the story:

The 1,600 MW Prairie State coal plant was planned and developed by Peabody, the world’s largest coal company, beginning in 2001. 

Peabody designed the plant, secured permits for it, and lined up a contractor, Bechtel, to build it in Marissa, Illinois, about 50 miles southeast of St. Louis. The company also began working aggressively with state power agencies to help persuade communities all over the Midwest to buy a stake in the project, promising them a stable source of low-cost electricity. 

In all, 217 towns and cities and 17 electric co-ops in eight states signed decades-long contracts to buy electricity from Prairie State. 

All risked losing money if power from the plant became more expensive than wholesale market prices. In addition, 82 of those communities signed take-or-pay contracts where they agreed to pay a proportion of the plant’s fixed costs, regardless of whether it is generating power. That happened between March and June of this year, when communities across the Midwest were paying for power they hadn’t received.

Can you spell lawsuits?