Late last week, the state environmental board issued an air permit which essentially allows American Municipal Power of Ohio to go forward with the new facility, which would be built in Meigs County.
Cleveland Public Power could be one of it's largest customers, but the city would have to agree to float bonds to help pay for construction of the plant, and would be locked into buying the coal-produced energy for the next 50 years. Cleveland, along with nearly 100 other cities, has tentatively signed on.
But environmental groups around the state and the nation are against the new plant, claiming it uses old technology, would be a polluter, and that it's a financial risk.
Shannon Fisk is with the Natural Resource Defense Council.
Shannon Fisk: Essentially communities are being asked to lock into a dirty coal fired power plant for the next two generations.
Cleveland has until March first to back out of the deal, which some council members want to do. But Public Utilities Chair Matt Zone says Cleveland can't only look at emissions output.
Matt Zone: We have to balance environmental justice with social justice in making sure that we have affordable rates.
Zone says the new plant - whether Cleveland joins or not - will still reduce carbon dioxide by 112 thousand tons per year, because three older plants would come off line, when the new one begins to produce power.
A public hearing with further explanation and testimony from both sides is set for February 22nd. The city of Oberlin is also considering signing on, and has scheduled a vote for February 19th.
Rick Jackson, 90.3.