Climate Changed

Coal's Latest Woe: Even a Clean Coal Plant Won't Burn It

Southern calls it quits on the coal part of the Kemper plant
Kemper project faced construction slowdowns, cheap natural gas

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By Mark Chediak and Ryan Collins

June 29, 2017 at 4:01 AM UTC

Updated on

June 29, 2017 at 2:23 PM UTC

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First came the bad weather and construction slowdowns. Then the slide in natural gas prices. Equipment got clogged and then leaks sprung. Design flaws surfaced.

By Wednesday, the builder of America’s first-of-its-kind “clean coal” power plant had called it quits on the coal part, deciding to run the whole thing on gas instead.