Decision on Kinder Morgan plant expected this fall

Business Today

ST. LOUIS -- By summer's end, Kinder Morgan Power Co. will either be preparing to start construction on a $250 million power plant in Cape Girardeau County or re-evaluating whether the project is still feasible in light of an expensive requirement sought by state officials that could potentially prompt the company to look elsewhere.

Since December 2000, the Colorado-based company has been wrestling with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources over issuance of a permit to operate a 530-megawatt facility south of Crump along Route U.

The disagreement centers on whether installation of equipment to control air pollution would be cost prohibitive. Kinder Morgan says it would, increasing the plant's operating expenses by $916,000 a year. DNR questions the company's cost estimates and says Kinder Morgan hasn't met its burden of proving the equipment isn't economically feasible.

After months of fruitless negotiations aimed at compromise, DNR rejected the permit application in September 2001. The company appealed and a four-day, trial-like hearing on the dispute was held in May.

St. Louis lawyer John Springborn, the hearing officer assigned to the case, is expected to present his findings to the Missouri Clean Air Commission on July 25 during a meeting closed to the public.

Sarah McMichel, a spokeswoman for DNR's air pollution control program, said the commission typically endorses the judgment of the hearing officer but isn't bound by his conclusions.

A final ruling by the commission on whether to grant of deny the permit likely would come no sooner than the panel's Aug. 29 meeting, McMichel said.

The facility design Kinder Morgan proposes for the Crump area is a combined cycle natural gas-fired combustion turbine power plant. It would consist of one large turbine that could run around the clock, plus six smaller turbines that would come on line as needed to meet demand.