Could coal-fired power plants like Prairie State become a dying species?
Click here for a printable version of this article as it appeared on bnd.com. Click here for a printable version of this article as it appeared on WREX.com. Click here to visit the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Energy Council Blog to read Executive Director Tom Wolf’s thoughts on this article. By Mike Fitzgerald -News-Democrat Monday May 24, 2010 LIVELY GROVE — The Prairie State Energy Campus under construction here represents a nearly $4 billion bet that King Coal will remain on his throne in Illinois for many decades to come. But if Congress passes either of two pending energy/climate bills, both of which set decreasing caps on carbon emissions, then traditional coal-fired power plants like Prairie State would become a dying species, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s a huge gamble,” said Ron Burke, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ office in Chicago. “Investing in coal right now is a gamble because carbon-dioxide regulation is coming.” Sheri Bilderback
