Company plans coal-fired power plant in S. Illinois

BENTON, Ill. -- An Illinois company detailed plans Thursday to build a coal-fired power plant near Benton, which was once at the heart of Illinois' coal industry.

Officials from the Illinois Energy Group, which is planning the project, say the generator and adjacent coal mine would provide as many as 1,200 jobs during a four-year construction phase and 530 coal-mining and generator jobs, with an annual payroll of $26 million.

"It's going to have a long-term impact on the community," said Mel Wentz, director of development for the Du Quoin-based company.

But Wentz also said several obstacles remain before construction could begin on the $1.7 billion project, in two years at the earliest.

The company must get several local, state and federal anti-pollution permits, as well as permission to use more than 20 million tons of water daily from nearby Rend Lake for the power generator, he said.

In addition, the Illinois Energy Group will have to find a partner with experience in running a generator to help finance the deal, he said. Mine-mouth plants are so named because the power generator is near the coal mine that feeds it.

Benton was once surrounded by coal mines, before the Clean Air Act of the 1990s made Illinois' high-sulfur coal too expensive to burn cleanly. The company, which has leased 1 billion tons of coal reserves from the Tennessee Valley Authority, applied for an air permit from the Illinois Department of Environmental Protection June 7, Wentz said.

Michael Murphy, head of coal development for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, said it probably will take about a year for that permit to be processed.