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A long-running legal battle over Peabody Energy Corp.’s proposed coal-fired power plant in western Kentucky has taken a new twist after the state’s Court of Appeals upheld an air permit originally issued in 2002.

The ruling, issued Friday, overturns a circuit court decision in August 2007 that sent the permit back to state environmental regulators.

St. Louis-based Peabody, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, initially proposed the 1,600-megawatt Thoroughbred plant near Central City, Ky., in early 2001. The state issued an air permit the following year, but the project has progressed little, and it’s uncertain that it will get built.

The legal fight is emblematic of court battles going on nationwide over new coal-fired power plants. On one hand, electricity demand and power bills for consumers are rising. But there’s also growing concern about global warming, and plants that burn coal are considered a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Thoroughbred plant is identical to the Prairie State Energy Campus under construction near Lively Grove, Ill payday loan. Today, Peabody owns just 5 percent of the Prairie State project; it has sold the rest to rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities.

Construction of the Thoroughbred plant was supposed to begin before Prairie State.

In a statement Monday, Peabody said it will "continue to evaluate the scope of the project in light of the lengthy approval process."

An attorney for the Sierra Club and other environmental groups challenging the air permit couldn’t be reached Monday.

jtomich@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8320

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