by Liam Niemeyer
Kentucky Lantern
February 12, 2026
Kentucky’s largest electric utility will share in $175 million the Trump administration unveiled to modernize and extend the life of coal-fired power plants in six states.
Louisville Gas & and Electric and Kentucky Utilities will use the money to upgrade smog controls at its 53-year-old Ghent Generating Station on the Ohio River in Carroll County.
The utility at one point had decided to retire Unit 2 at Ghent by 2028 rather than pay for upgrades necessary to comply with a Biden-era rule on smog-causing nitrogen oxide emissions. It later sought and received permission from Kentucky’s utility regulator to add the environmental upgrades and charge ratepayers for the cost to keep the coal-fired unit running.The cost of the planned upgrades is $152 million with operating costs of about $1.3 million every year, the utility told the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) last year.
The announcement of millions of dollars to retrofit coal-fired plants comes among a flurry of Trump administration moves to bolster the coal industry, which has steadily lost ground to other electricity generation sources.
Kentucky coal magnate and Republican megadonor Joe Craft and Republican U.S. Reps. Brett Guthrie and Andy Barr of Kentucky attended a Trump event this week showcasing the administration’s commitment to coal. Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday that directs the U.S. Department of Defense to buy power from coal-fired power plants.
And the administration is abandoning efforts to curb climate change, scrapping a legal finding that underpins U.S. regulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.
Project already approved by Kentucky regulator
In a list of coal-plant projects that it’s supporting, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) includes KU’s plans to install selective catalytic reduction (SCR) controls at the Ghent plant’s Unit 2.
SCR filters out nitrogen oxide pollution from burning coal that contributes to acid rain and the creation of smog. The power plant’s other three units have SCR mechanisms in place, and the utility received permission last year from the state Public Service Commission to add SCR to Unit 2.
The Energy Department did not share in its press release how much funding LG&E and KU will receive, nor how the funding would be structured. The DOE had posted a grant opportunity, which closed on Wednesday, awarding up to $70 million a project for “recommissioning, retrofitting, and strategically repurposing” coal-fired power plants.
In response to an emailed list of questions about the funding announcement, LG&E and KU spokesperson Drew Gardner said the utility has a “diverse energy mix” and directed questions about the funding to the DOE. Phone and email messages sent by the Lantern to the DOE requesting additional information were not returned.
“Through our longstanding partnership with the United States Department of Energy, we have collaborated for decades to pioneer industry-leading emissions control technology like flue gas desulfurization and carbon capture,” Gardner said. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy on selective catalytic reduction and other future projects to help further strengthen our flexible, all-of-the-above approach, which will allow us to maintain safe, reliable service at the lowest reasonable cost well into the future.”
The Public Service Commission is allowing the utility to recover costs for the Unit 2 SCR through an environmental surcharge, a fee utilities charge ratepayers to pay for environmental compliance upgrades. Gardner, the LG&E and KU spokesperson, did not address an emailed question about whether the utility is currently collecting costs for the SCR through its environmental surcharge.
‘Dirtier and costlier’
Byron Gary, an attorney with the environmental legal organization Kentucky Resources Council, represented a coalition of consumer advocacy and environmental groups before the commission when the regulator decided to approve the addition of the SCR.
He told the Lantern that LG&E and KU should add emission controls to control smog if Ghent Generating Station’s Unit 2 is going to continue operating. But he said continuing to operate Unit 2 is “no longer the most affordable way to continue producing energy” and should retire rather than have an SCR installed.
“The Ghent 2 Unit is already over 50 years old,” Gary said. “This is further putting the thumb on the scale in favor of a dirtier and costlier energy source.”
Gary’s critique echoes other environmentalists and energy analysts who argue that extending the life of an aging coal-fired power plant fleet across the country could increase utility bills and continue to exacerbate the effects of climate change. Gary pointed to a study published in December, commissioned in part by the Kentucky Resources Council, that found Kentucky ratepayers could save billions of dollars if the state moved beyond a reliance on fossil fuel-fired electricity including coal.
He said the PSC already approved the addition of the SCR, meaning that “Kentucky ratepayers would have been paying for this SCR anyway.”
“It may benefit ratepayers in the short term, at the cost of taxpayers and the planet over the long term,” Gary said.
This story was first published on kentuckylantern.com.
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