Peru Power Plant Being Shut Down After Decommissioning

PERU, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana power plant is being shuttered in the face of more stringent federal air pollution rules.

Officials in Peru have taken the first steps to shut down the city's power plant after the Peru Utilities Service Board voted in October to decommission it.

Peru Utilities General Manager Roger Merriman tells the Kokomo Tribune the move comes after the board decided it was too expensive to update the coal plant to comply with federal rules.

He says the plant was Peru's sole supplier of electricity until the 1970s, when the utility also began to purchase power from Duke Energy.

Merriman says that until three years ago, the plant generated electricity to sell on the market, but stopped doing so after a sharp decline in energy prices.