Michael Childress, an attorney at Childress Duffy, Ltd. said residents of Batavia have been financially harmed due to negligent misrepresentation by five city consultants, and that they gave misleading information about Prairie State to city officials. "Our investigation has indicated that building a power plant to burn dirty coal in southern Illinois was not a good idea when it was done," Childress said. "At the same time, a number of other power plants were taken off the board, and of course the results are speaking for themselves at this point."
Peabody Energy, the company that built the Prairie State facility, sold the vast majority of their interest in the project to eight municipal power utilities. Kentucky Municipal Power Agency, which includes Paducah Power System and the Princeton Electric Plant Board, owns close to eight percent of Prairie State. Paducah and Princeton residents currently pay some of the highest electricity rates in the commonwealth.
"Our class action seeks money at this point, to subsidize the rate payers so that there will be no loss compared to what they would have paid had they been able to have access to utilities that were at market rates." Childress said.
Dave Clark, general manager of Paducah Power System and a Prairie State board member, said he believes the suit is without merit. He also claims other motives may be behind the action. “I’m not surprised that a lawsuit was filed,” Clark said. “Environmental groups have used the court system since the inception of the Prairie State project to try to keep the plant from being built, and now it appears they are using ratepayers who are desperate for relief in their latest attempts to shutter the plant.”
Clark said that in 2007, the city of Batavia purchased more than double the capacity it needed in anticipation of a large industrial prospect that did not materialize when the economy tanked, leaving Batavia with an expensive situation regardless of Prairie State's performance. Childress adamantly denies that there are any ulterior motives behind the suit. "
A representative from the KMPA had made a statement connecting my law firm with a trade association that's anti-coal, and I can tell you we're not connected. He is absolutely wrong about that." Childress said. Prairie State and Paducah Power System are both listed as respondents in discovery in the suit, but are not listed as defendants. Illinois law allows plaintiffs six months to add more defendants in the case if they so choose.
