A Vistra Energy Corp. subsidiary and a coalition of environment groups are seeking approvals for a proposed settlement agreement to retire the 585-MW E.D. Edwards coal-fired plant in Illinois.
The proposed settlement calls for Edwards retirement by the end of 2022 and includes funding for Peoria, Ill.-area community projects.
"The proposed settlement resolves a long-running lawsuit while providing three years of certainty for the more than 70 employees working at the Edwards plant and, importantly, a transition period for the community to plan for the plant closure," Illinois Power Resources Generating LLC said in a Sept. 16 news release. Illinois Power Resources Generating is an affiliate of Luminant, a subsidiary of Vistra.
A coalition of environmental groups on April 18, 2013, filed a lawsuit against Ameren Corp. units contending that the Edwards coal-fired plant exceeded limits for opacity more than 1,000 times and particulate matter and violated reporting requirements. In December 2013, Ameren completed the divestiture of its merchant generation business, including Edwards, to an affiliate of Dynegy Inc., which was acquired by Vistra in 2018.
The groups supporting the settlement include the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and Respiratory Health Association.
The Edwards plant retirement is not part of the 2,000 MW of generation retirement Vistra announced in August as part of a plan to comply with the Illinois Pollution Control Board's Multi-Pollutant Standard, or MPS, rule.
The settlement is subject to review and comment by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as review, approval and entry by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.
The Edwards plant had a capacity factor in 2018 of 64.19%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. In 2017, the primary coal suppliers for the Edwards plant were the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, operated by Peabody Powder River Mining LLC, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy Corp., and Arch Coal Inc.'s Black Thunder Mine.
