Coal plants cancelled in 2010

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Existing U.S. coal plants Proposed U.S. coal plants Proposed coal plants (international) Coal plant retirements Campus coal plants Coal plants near residential areas Former coal plants Proposed synfuels plants (U.S.)

Related resources

• Coal plants cancelled in 2007
• Coal plants cancelled in 2008
• Coal plants cancelled in 2009
• Coal plants cancelled in 2011
• Coal plants cancelled in 2012
• Coal plants cancelled in 2013
• What happened to the 151 proposed coal plants?
• US proposed coal plants - a list of all coal plant proposals by state
• Citizen groups working on coal issues - a list of grassroots groups actively working on coal plant proposals (350+ groups)

Plants cancelled, abandoned, or put on hold in 2010

In 2010, the following proposed coal plants were canceled, abandoned, or put on hold:

• Smith Station: On Nov. 18, 2010, EKPC entered into an agreement with Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Kentucky Environmental Foundation, the Sierra Club, three individual co-op members, the Kentucky attorney general, and Gallatin Steel (EKPC’s biggest industrial customer) to halt plans for the Smith plant by abandoning the permits needed to proceed with construction. The cooperative also committed $125,000 toward a collaborative effort in which the public interest groups, EKPC and member co-ops will work together to evaluate and recommend new energy efficiency programs and renewable energy options.
• Scriba Coal Gasification Plant: This 20,000-ton-per-day coal-to-gas plant, which would have been one of the largest coal gasification plants in the world, was originally slated for Jamesville, New York, but after local opposition the site was changed to Scriba, New York. In January, 2010, the Sierra Club reported that the Scriba location appeared to have been abandoned and that developer TransGas was considering a West Virginia location.
• Beech Hollow Energy Project: This 250 megawatt (MW) coal plant proposed by Robinson Power Company for Washington County, Pennsylvania, was opposed by Residents Against the Power Plant. The plant would have burned refuse from a “square-mile dump” that is one of the largest coal-refuse piles east of the Mississippi, and from other refuse piles throughout the area. The U.S. Forest Service submitted comments to federal and state environmental regulators in March 2005, arguing that the plant would adversely affect wilderness areas in West Virginia. The proposal was accepted by Robinson Township officials on Sept. 11, 2006; planning commission chairman Neal Matchett resigned in protest of the decision. The plant was also opposed by the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project. On January 20, 2010, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection invalidated the plant's air quality permit, because Robinson Power had allowed construction to lapse for more than 18 months.
• Hugo 2: In January, 2010, the Sierra Club reported that Western Farmers Electric Cooperative and Brazos Electric Power Cooperative had abandoned this project, a 750 MW coal-fired plant near Ft. Towson, Oklahoma, adjacent to adjacent to WFEC’s existing 450 megawatt Hugo Plant. According to the Sierra Club, the sponsoring utilities were unable to find additional sponsors for the project.
• River Hill Power Project: On February 23, 2010, WJACTV reported that this project, which would have utilized circulating fluidized bed technology to generate electricity from waste coal had been canceled because the sponsors had failed to receive approval of a loan guarantee from the federal government.
• Big Cajun II Unit 4: In February NRG told the Louisiana DEQ that it had decided to abandon the 750 MW Big Cajun II Unit 4
• Two Elk Energy Park Unit 2: In March, the Sierra Club reported that the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has officially withdrawn the North American Power Group's (NAPG) application for the Two Elk 2 coal plant facility. This means that they will have to start the application process from the beginning if they decide the pursue the project.
• Sevier Plant: In March, the Sierra Club reported that the 270 MW Sevier Plant in Utah was switching to natural gas.
• Lansing Board of Water and Light: On July 16, 2010, the Lansing Board of Water and Light announced it will build a $182 million combined-cycle, cogeneration plant powered by natural gas rather than a 350 MW coal-fired power plant.
• Karn/Weadock Generating Complex Expansion: On May 25, 2010, CMS Energy announced that the 800-MW Karn/Weadock project in Michigan will be delayed, due to changes in the marketplace, reduced projections of energy demand, and lower prices of natural gas. According to the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Consumer's home town paper, the move is a temporary one, and the Karn plant still figures prominently in Consumer's Energy plans.
• Wolverine Clean Energy Venture: On May 21, 2010, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) denied the air quality Permit to Install for Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative's proposed 600 MW coal plant. The decision came in the wake of Governor Jennifer Granholm's executive order instructive state officials to deny permits for coal plants where alternatives exist. In response to the denial of the permit Wolverine Power Cooperative filed suit against the state, and the suit is pending.
• Red Hills Power Project: After entering into a joint agreement in 2008 to evaluate this Mississippi synfuels project, the two sponsors, Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. and North American Coal Corporation, appear to have abandoned the project.
• Ambre Energy plant: Australia-based Ambre Energy appears to have abandoned its plans for a $375-million coal plant in Montana, and instead is moving forward with a coal export terminal south of Seattle.
• Toquop: This 750-MW project was proposed for Nevada by Sithe Global Power. In March 2010 it was reported that Sithe Global had abandoned plans to develop Toquop as a coal-burning plant and instead will construct a natural gas plant at the site.
• Lackawanna Coal-to-Gas: Proposed in 2008 for Erie County, New York, this coal-to-gas plant has been abandoned.
• Atlantic Energy Ventures gasification plant: In June, 2010, the sponsors of this proposed coal gasification in Ohio allowed the project's Certificate of Public Need and Necessity to expire, indicating that they have abandoned the project.
• Green River Plant: After Southern California Edison failed to win a $200 million Department of Energy grant, and in addition failed to win approval for a rate increase the partically fund the project, it appears that this 500 MW plant in Utah is unlikely to move forward.
• Bonanza Power Plant addition: This 86 MW addition to Deseret Power Electric Cooperative's 468 MW Bonanza Power Plant was the subject of extensive litigation by the Sierra Club, Environmental Defence, and Western Resource Advocates on the basis of the Supreme Court's precedent-setting ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA giving EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Since the November 2008 Environmental Appeals Board ruling granting the Sierra Club's Petition for Review, there has been no activity by the project's developers, leading the Sierra Club to conclude that the project has been abandoned.
• Laramie County pilot plant: This $100 million project in Wyoming was approved by Governor Dave Freudenthal and the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees. In August 2010, the Sierra Club noted that no permits had been filed for the plant and concluded that the project had been abandoned.
• Two Elk Energy Park Unit 2: Although the Wyoming District Court dismissed the Sierra Club's complaint against this proposed 750 MW project, in March 2010 Sierra reported that the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality had officially withdrawn North American Power Group's application for the plant.
• TES Filer City Station Repowering: In September, the Sierra Club reported that this proposed 180 MW plant in Michigan had still not submitted an air permit application, and Sierra concluded that the project had been abandoned.
• LoraxAg: After critics lambasted this company for naming itself after a Dr. Seuss pro-environmental fable, the coal-to-fertilizer project appears to have been quietly abandoned.