Court Says No to Peabody Coal

In an important victory today, a Kentucky court ruled against Peabody’s proposed new Thoroughbred coal-fired power plant, citing the plant as a threat to both public health and Kentucky’s industrial growth. The plant, planned for Muhlenberg County, would have been one of America’s largest and most polluting power plants- emitting thousands of tons of air pollutants that cause smog and are known to cause severe public health problems including asthma and cancer.

“This is a huge victory, especially for our children and the elderly who suffer most from dirty air,” said Pat Gallagher, the Director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program.

The court rejected Thoroughbred’s design, noting that the lack of modern pollution controls would endanger public health, and that pollution from the plant could “effectively foreclose construction of any new sources of air pollution in the region, potentially stifling industrial growth for decades to come.”

“Peabody tried to sell us yesterday’s out-dated, polluting technology,” said Hank Graddy of the Sierra Club. “This decision reflects what many Kentuckians already know -- that we don’t have to settle anymore. There are better, cleaner, safer options that can meet our energy needs, help our economy and protect our families. Kentucky deserves better.”

The defeated coal plant would have been one of the largest new sources of global warming in the United States, emitting over 12,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. This is half of all the carbon dioxide reductions that the seven Northeast states are proposing to cut from all of their power plants annually by 2020. The court’s rejection of the Thoroughbred plant opens the door to a cleaner energy future for Kentucky. By not locking itself into 50 more years of polluting technology, the state now has a chance to invest in efficiency and renewable energy, like wind, which can save consumers money, protect air quality, create good-paying American jobs and fight global warming.

“As we’ve seen with this plant, the costs of our dependence on coal are huge- burdening our economy, our environment and our health,” said Sierra Club attorney Sanjay Narayan. “Instead of looking for ways to further its use, such as turning it into extremely expensive and dirty liquid fuel, we should be looking for ways to further our investment in the clean energy technologies of tomorrow.”