On May 14, 2025, Sierra Club secured a victory in Kentucky, preventing Duke Energy from spending $125 million to modify the scrubber on its East Bend coal plant. The investment would have extended the life of this dirty and uneconomic coal plant.
In July 2024, Duke asked state regulators for permission to convert its scrubber system—the system that reduces pollution from smokestacks—to one that uses a limestone reagent instead of a quicklime process. Duke originally sought approval for this switch because quicklime costs are rising, making East Bend less competitive in the energy market, to the point that without a new and more affordable quicklime source, Duke “would likely be forced to retire the plant prematurely.” Sierra Club opposed Duke’s proposal, arguing that spending $125 million on this project was a bad investment—essentially throwing good money after bad. When challenged, Duke changed its story, claiming that the retrofit was needed to comply with the federal Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATs). On the eve of a scheduled hearing, Duke pulled its application and refiled it a month later, emphasizing that MATs compliance was the driving force.
Sierra Club pushed back again, providing another round of compelling expert testimony emphasizing that other alternatives were available and less expensive. Finally, just a few weeks before the next hearing, Duke withdrew its application and confirmed they won’t try again. By preventing this $125 million investment, we stopped Kentucky from giving Duke’s struggling coal plant a costly life line that would have kept it running longer, harming ratepayers and public health.
Sierra Club was represented in this case by Managing Attorney Kristin Henry with support from Senior Attorney Nathaniel Shoaff and Paralegal Specialist Violet Lehrer.