Press Releases

The Prairie State Energy Campus today announced that the regulatory and legal review process for its air permit has successfully concluded, making the permit final and unappealable. The process included affirmation by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, concluding that Prairie State is designed with superior environmental controls to protect the environment.

"Prairie State's environmental profile has continued to prevail in the courts of law and public opinion," said Rick A. Bowen, Peabody Senior Vice President of Btu Conversion and Strategic Planning. "Each environmental review has brought stronger affirmation of Prairie State's advanced environmental controls."

Prairie State is a 1,600 megawatt supercritical coal-fueled power plant being built in Washington County, Ill., that would be among the cleanest U.S. plants with emission rates that are approximately 80 percent lower than existing U.S. power plants. Even its carbon dioxide emission rate will be approximately 15 percent lower than the typical U.S. coal plant.

"Prairie State is leading the largest new build-out of clean coal-based generation in three decades and is important for delivering reliable baseload electricity at a time when demand is growing significantly faster than capacity," said Indiana Municipal Power Agency President and Chairman of the Prairie State board of directors Raj G. Rao.

The mine and power plant will create more than 500 permanent jobs and will inject nearly $125 million into the region each year, according to a recent economic study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Units 1 and 2 are expected to be on line in the 2011-2012 timeframe.

Prairie State will deliver low-cost energy to more than 1.7 million families through a partner group that includes American Municipal Power-Ohio (AMP-Ohio); Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA); Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA); Kentucky Municipal Power Agency (KMPA); Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission (MJMEUC); Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency (NIMPA); Prairie Power, Inc.; Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) and Lively Grove Energy, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy.

   CONTACT:

   Derrell Carter
   (314) 342-7667
   dcarter@peabodyenergy.com

   Christopher Smith
   (314) 982-8603
   Christopher.Smith@fleishman.com

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SOURCE: Prairie State Energy Campus