Permit for lignite mine in Kemper Co. OK’d
A permit board of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality gave final approval Tuesday to a plan by Liberty Fuels to mine lignite, a soft form of coal, from about 1,000 acres in Kemper County over the next five years. The mine would feed the coal-fired power plant that Mississippi Power Co. is building nearby.
Environmentalists have fought mine permits because of their opposition to the $2.4 billion plant, but also because they say it would pollute streams leading to Okatibee Lake.
One of the opponents’ main concerns is that runoff from sedimentation ponds would carry heavy metals such as arsenic into Chickasawhay and Tompeat creeks, which lead to the lake and ultimately to the Pascagoula River.
Clarion Ledger
6/13/12
Magnolia Tribune
