WASHINGTON COUNTY - A proposed $2 billion clean coal power plant touted recently by Gov. Rod Blagojevich as a "rebirth" of the Southern Illinois coal mining industry is on hold today after a coalition of environmental and public health groups objected to the state's air pollution permit for the operation.

According to critics, the permit for the Prairie State Energy Campus should have required technology to cut output of gases that cause smog, soot and haze, which can lead to respiratory problems and heart disease. In addition, the plant will emit up to 260 pounds a year of mercury, a potent neurological toxin.

While a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appeals board considers the challenge, Peabody Energy Co. cannot build the 1,500-megawatt plant near Marissa. St. Louis-based Peabody previously had said construction could begin as soon as the end of the year.

Peabody had anticipated an appeal, and it will continue to line up contractors, business partners and customers, spokesman Vic Svec said. "It's mildly disappointing but not unexpected," Svec said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, and state officials Friday. "We were expecting this. They have consistently opposed any use of Illinois coal for electricity or coal-fired plants, absent the gasification process," Reitz said.

The plant would burn 6 million tons of high-sulfur Illinois coal a year from a new underground mine located on the same property. It would create 450 permanent jobs and pump some $100 million into the local economy each year, Peabody has said.

"This is a very important project," Reitz said. "It's the largest project we have at the present time in Southern Illinois and it is much further along than any other project in using Illinois coal and revitalizing the Southern Illinois coal industry."

The plant has been hailed as a milestone in bringing back Illinois' ailing coal fields, which have been overlooked in favor of cleaner-burning Western coal. On a recent swing through Southern Illinois, Blagojevich said the project "represents a milestone in our vision to create good jobs and rebuild the coal mining regions of Illinois. Illinois coal is experiencing a rebirth, and I can think of no better example of that rebirth than the Prairie State Energy Campus."

Laurel Kroack, chief of the state EPA's bureau of air, said the agency still supports the project. "We wouldn't have issued the permit if we didn't think it would stand," she said. "These are always controversial projects, particularly when burning coal. We are disappointed but fully expected their opposition."

Organizations involved in the appeal filed Wednesday include the Sierra Club, American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Lake County Conservation Alliance, Valley Watch, Clean Air Task Force, American Bottom Conservancy and Health and Environmental Justice.

Peabody officials say the plant, which would be one of the largest coal-fired plants approved in the nation in the past 20 years, would also be among the cleanest. "The environmental groups have made it known for some time that they are against using coal for power, but if it is used, they want integrated gasification combined cycle technology. But, that technology has never been commercially used to produce power and its cost has not been proven. We agree with the company that IGCC is not commonly available for commercial power plants," Kroack said.

The appeals process likely will take at least several months, Kroack said.

- The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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