"Nearly 60 Percent of Kentucky’s Coal Plants May Be Gone by 2040"

"In 25 years, Kentucky’s energy landscape will look dramatically different than it does now. As Energy and Environment Secretary Len Peters told a legislative committee last week, Kentucky is already facing the loss of the majority of its coal fleet over the next 25 years, and that’s without the EPA’s upcoming greenhouse gas regulations.

More than 58 percent of Kentucky’s coal fired power plants have already made plans to close by 2020, or will likely retire by 2030 or 2040 due to their ages.

The first wave of power plant closings has already been set into motion by another EPA rule: the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard. About a quarter of the state’s coal fleet will shut down or convert to natural gas, rather than install pollution controls to comply with the regulation."

Erica Peterson reports for WFPL June 8, 2015.