St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. recently announced that it will close power plants in Meredosia and Hutsonville, Illinois, rather than face the cost of bringing them into compliance with new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The investor-owned utility cited the tough sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide reductions resulting from the new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, along with other pending EPA regulations, in its decision to shutter the coal-fired plants.

“Options to bring these units into compliance were explored, including installing additional environmental controls, but the costs were just too high to be justified,” Steven Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of Ameren’s holding company told the media. He added that the company regretted the impact the closing would have on the local communities, including the elimination of 90 jobs. Ameren is looking for other places within the company for the employees of the plants.

The utility said that the lack of a multi-year capacity market within MISO’s framework contributed to its decision. “Without the ability to sell capacity several years out, we cannot afford to make the substantial investment for environmental controls that would be required to keep these units in service,” Sullivan noted.

Together, the two plants supply about 4 percent of the utility’s total generation. The Meredosia site had originally been slated for the FutureGen project that had been announced by President Bush in 2003. That project would have combined coal-fired generation with carbon capture and underground storage. Sullivan left open the possibility that the plant could still become part of the FutureGen effort.