BUSINESS: BENTON, ILL., POWER PLANT PROPOSED

BENTON, Ill. -- A Kentucky company has proposed building a $600 million coal-fired power plant in unincorporated Franklin County.

The plant, proposed by EnviroPower of Illinois, would be near rail and highway systems and could bring an estimated 140 jobs to the Benton area. The company hopes to open the plant in March 2004 if full site work can begin in May 2001.

Harold Sergent, EnviroPower's president and chief executive officer, announced the proposal at the 2000 Governor's Illinois Coal Conference in Springfield this week. The 500-megawatt peaker plant would be built at the site of the closed Old Ben Coal Co. 24 coal mine.

Michael Murphy of the Illinois Office of Coal Development and Marketing called the plan "a great idea and one we support."

Dewey Coulter of the Benton/West City Economic Development Office said the plant would be "a much-needed development."

"It's going to be a benefit to the entire region," Coulter said.

Coulter's office is helping EnviroPower in assessing the project's transportation, utilities and work-force needs. He stressed that not all details are finalized.

EnviroPower officials said the proposed plant would have the newest air emission controls available.

The wholesale electric generator would operate off coal and coal waste. It would recycle coal products.

Joseph Darguzas, EnviroPower vice president, said money for the project would come from private equity from investors and structured debt.

Plans to raise project funding currently rests with private equity from investors and structured debt, Darguzas said.

The time frame for the project depends on government permits, but work at the site could begin as early as March.

Officials of EnviroPower, based in Lexington, Ky., are "prospecting" other southern Illinois sites for two or three other plant sites, Darguzas said.

More than 75 million tons of "possible waste coal sources" have been identified in Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson and Perry counties.

"We're sifting and sorting through those possibilities right now," Darguzas said.

"Illinois' coal industry has been in decline for a number of years. A few of us are trying to take a proactive approach. The marketplace is calling for low-cost producers. We think we've got what they want," Sergent said earlier this week.