Power Plant Project Good for W. Ky. Coal Industry.

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State leaders say a nearly $1 billion project to update pollution controls at a massive Louisville power plant will be a boost for Kentucky's coal industry.

The upgrades at LG&E's Mill Creek Generating Station in southwestern Jefferson County are expected to add about 700 construction jobs. They will also allow the 1,400-megawatt plant to continue to burn coal by meeting stricter federal air regulations that go in force in 2016.

Officials say the coal that feeds the plant comes mostly from western Kentucky mines.

Kentucky's top energy official, Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Len Peters, says the $940 million upgrade shows power plants "can use coal in an environmentally conscious manner."

LG&E says the upgrades will remove 98 percent of the sulfur dioxide from the plant's emissions.