The agreement also leads the company's sister utility in Alabama to close some additional coal-fired units, further shifting its parent, Southern Co., away from coal.
The Sierra Club said yesterday it agreed to drop its lawsuit challenging the construction permits for Mississippi Power's next-generation coal plant in Kemper County. Mississippi Power has agreed to a host of environmental and clean energy steps, including converting four coal units to run on natural gas and repowering an existing natural gas plant to run more efficiently.
"We feel that we are helping to build a future to where there will be no more coal plants in Mississippi, and that is important to us," Jenna Garland, deputy press secretary for Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, said in an interview.
The deal ends the Sierra Club's six-year challenge to the Kemper County Energy Facility. The project has been in the spotlight for several reasons.
The coal-to-gas plant aims to capture most of its carbon emissions, earning praise from U.S. EPA as the way utilities could build coal plants in the future. The project has also busted its budget, which now stands at $5.5 billion, up from an original $2.88 billion.
Mississippi Power Settlement Clears Way for Expansion of Renewables
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