COAL ACTIVITY HEATING UP

摘要

A number of new coal-fired power projects continue to make significant strides toward the construction phase. Meanwhile, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has announced the release of a solicitation for the second round of proposals under President Bush's Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI), in which the U.S. Department of Energy will provide approximately $280 million in matching funds for demonstrating technologies that sharply reduce and ultimately eliminate pollution in coal-based power plants. In February, Peabody Energy received a draft air permit from the State of Illinois for its planned Prairie State Energy complex in Washington County. Prairie State is a proposed 1,500 MW plant that would be fueled by 6 million tons per year from an adjacent mine. Prairie State is a sister project to Peabody's planned Thoroughbred Energy plant and mine in Muhlenberg County, Ky. A final permit for Prairie State could come as early as this summer.