Duke Ordered To Close Indiana Coal Units

"A federal judge in Indianapolis has ordered Duke Energy Corp. to shut down nearly 40 percent of an Indiana power plant's capacity as part of an enforcement case that dates back to the Clinton administration.

Judge Larry McKinney of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ordered Duke last Friday to shut down three units at its Wabash River Station in West Terre Haute no later than Sept. 30. The judge also ordered Duke to run those units at a reduced rate until they are closed and to surrender pollution allowances to account for the plant's sulfur dioxide emissions.

Shutting down the three units at Wabash River Station will remove a combined capacity of 265 megawatts -- 39 percent of the plant's 677-megawatt capacity, according to Duke. The company had proposed a remedy that would have retired the three units by 2012."

Robin Bravender reports for Greenwire in the Green Inc. blog of the New York Times June 1, 2009.