Kemper coal plant: Report disputes price tag, completion date
new report estimates the costs of building Mississippi Power’s customer-subsidized Kemper coal plant could balloon to $3 billion or more, and questions the company’s statements that it is 70-percent complete and on schedule to open in May 2014.
The report comes just a few weeks after Mississippi Power said the project was on schedule and would cost no more than $2.88 billion, up from the company’s original pledge to build it for $2.4 billion.
“Mississippi Power can no longer credibly claim that the Kemper plant is in good shape,” said Louie Miller, director of the state Sierra Club, which has fought in court to block the Kemper plant or have it converted to natural gas. “They need to stop putting lipstick on this pig and come clean about the true state of the plant’s finances and construction, and the Public Service Commission needs to step in and pull the plug before customers are made to foot the bill for Mississippi Power’s $3 billion mistake.”
But Mississippi Power spokesman Jeff Shepard said the company “remains confident and recently confirmed its cost and schedule projections” for the plant and questioned the veracity of the new report.
Clarion Ledger
11/30/12
Magnolia Tribune
