Jackson Free Press

As Gov. Haley Barbour, state leaders and officials from the Mississippi Development Authority celebrated the groundbreaking of a $2.4 billion coal plant in Kemper County yesterday, the Gulf Restoration Network and the Sierra Club flew an airplane banner over the event reading: "Dirty Expensive Unnecessary."

Environmentalists oppose the plant, claiming the technology will cause environmental destruction. Also, Mississippi Power will pass on the costs of the plant's construction to ratepayers.

Mississippi Public Service Commissioners Lynn Posey and Leonard Bentz issued an April 29 decision limiting the cost of the plant to $2.4 billion. The stockholders of Mississippi Power Company would have to pick up any costs above $2.4 billion, they said. MPC complained that it should be able to pass any additional costs down to the ratepayers, and warned that it could not afford to build the plant if not allowed to pass on the costs, including those above $2.4 billion .

The commission revised their decision May 26, allowing the company to charge rate-payers up to $2.88 billion for the plant. Mississippi Power Company did not publicly release the amount of the rate increase customers would be shouldering as a result.

"The experimental Kemper coal plant and mine would permanently damage over 1,800 acres of wetlands and more than 53,000 feet of streams that are incredibly valuable for flood protection, wildlife and recreation," Raleigh Hoke, Gulf Restoration Network's Mississippi Organizer said in a statement yesterday, "Similar coal deposits lie under much of central and north Mississippi. Which community will Mississippi Power dig up for the next massive coal strip mine?"

In a press statement, Barbour lauded the new Mississippi Power plant, claiming it would bring 260 permanent jobs and an additional 1,000 jobs during peak construction.