One of America's First Clean Coal Plants May Have Just Died

A first-of-its-kind “clean coal” power plant that U.S. utility owner Southern Co. has spent years and billions of dollars building in Mississippi appears to be dead.

Southern’s Mississippi Power utility is suspending work on the part of the plant that was designed to turn coal into gas to generate electricity. Instead, the complex will run off natural gas only, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company said in a filing late Wednesday. While state regulators will ultimately decide whether to stop pursuing the coal portion of the project, they’ve already signaled their support for dropping it.