Wow – the East Kentucky Power Cooperative will not be building its Clark County (Winchester) coal-fired power plant! The EKPC, Sierra Club, Kentucky Environmental Foundation, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Wendell Berry, Father John Rausch and Dr. John A. Patterson all reached an agreement. Wow.

EKPC is also giving $125,000 to help develop efforts to coordinate and evaluate new energy programs and renewable energy options.

“This is very good news for all of Kentucky’s distribution co-ops and their members. EKPC can now avoid the huge cost of building the plant and turn its attention to aggressively pursuing energy efficiency and renewable energy options. I believe those strategies hold the greatest promise for keeping rates as low as possible in the long run for Grayson Rural Electric members, especially our many low-income ratepayers,” said Doug Doerrfeld, member of the Grayson Rural Electric Cooperative and past chair of KFTC.

“This agreement demonstrates what can happen when people work together,” said Billy Edwards, a Clark Energy customer and Sierra Club member. “It creates an opportunity for our cooperative to become a leader in developing affordable, accessible clean energy and energy efficiency programs that can create jobs across the region while meeting the needs of their customers.”

“I’m awfully glad to be party to a settlement that is amicable and made in good faith,” said Wendell Berry, a farmer, renowned author, and Shelby Energy co-op member. “I do, on the basis of long experience, value the idea of a cooperative – which is to say an established cooperation between suppliers and users of energy or of any other vital supply. I’m also glad that the settlement agreement establishes a way forward through the establishment of a collaborative which will allow for informal conversations without the rigidity and anxiety of legal process.”

“This settlement is a win-win for EKPC co-op members and thousands of Kentuckians,” said Elizabeth Crowe, Executive Director of the Kentucky Environmental Foundation. “We can all breathe a little easier and steer our time and attention towards energy solutions that better address our common concerns for the health, economic and environmental benefit of co-op members and others in EKPC’s service area.”

Again, wow. Click here (Warning: PDF Link) to read the settlement that’s been reached.