Duke Energy moves up retirement date for Gallagher coal plant

INDIANAPOLIS — Duke Energy plans to shutter its Gallagher Station by June 1, moving up original plans to retire the coal plant in 2022.

The plant, located in New Albany, has been operating for more than 60 years, and was initially set to retire next year, after an agreement was reached in 2016 between Duke Energy, the Sierra Club, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Save the Valley and Valley Watch.

But the plant has been running at a limited capacity in recent years, and even less because of lower power demand during the pandemic, according to Duke officials. 

The coal ash ponds at Gallagher, like nearly all such ponds around the nation, have been found to have dangerous levels of pollution, including arsenic, boron, cobalt and lead, which can raise the risk for cancer, heart disease, respiratory distress and cause developmental damage in children.

In response, Wendy Bredhold, campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Indiana, released the following statement:

“It’s good that Duke is finally taking this old, polluting coal-burning plant offline instead of forcing customers to prop it up for another year. Duke says it's retiring Gallagher a year early because it’s barely running at this point, but Duke could retire its Edwardsport plant today with no impact on their ability to serve their customers — a move that would immediately save customers money.

“Duke should immediately make plans to free Hoosier communities from the burden of Edwardsport, one of the most-expensive plants in the country, and its Gibson Super Polluter, one of the worst toxic polluters.”