Groups appeal permit for Southern Illinois power plant

MARISSA, Ill. -- Environmental groups are appealing a permit issued by the state that would let Peabody Energy Corp. discharge pollutants into the Kaskaskia River and Mud Creek from the utility's planned $2 billion power plant near this Southern Illinois town.

The Prairie Rivers Network and the Sierra Club last week asked the Illinois Pollution Control Board to review the Prairie State Energy Campus' pollution-discharge permit issued Dec. 5 by the state Environmental Protection Agency.

The 36-year-old Pollution Control Board adopts Illinois' environmental regulations and decides contested environmental cases, according to its Web site.

The groups allege that harmful chlorinated byproducts will be discharged from the plant's cooling tanks into the Kaskaskia River, a source of drinking water for communities including Sparta and Evansville.

Vic Svec, a spokesman for St. Louis-based Peabody, said the plant will dechlorinate the water before it is released into the river, "complying with all of the requirements that exist. That's why the permit was granted."

Environmental groups also say the plant would release high levels of sulfur dioxide, mercury and other pollutants into the air and harm visibility in Southeast Missouri's Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.

Peabody, the world's largest private coal company, has said the project would create 450 permanent jobs and pump some $100 million into the local economy each year.

Electricity from the plant would be distributed through the Illinois power grid and transmitted to Midwest communities and other energy suppliers.

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.

The IEPA already has granted Peabody an air pollution permit, but a coalition of environmental and public health groups objected to the decision and it is now under review.

The Prairie State project's developers include Peabody and the Prairie State Interest Group, a collection of six Midwest electricity suppliers.