The group of electrical cooperatives planning to build a $2.1 billion coal-fired power plant in middle Georgia has received the final go-ahead from state environmental regulators. The sign-off on Plant Washington comes after planners pledged to make the plant cleaner. But environmental groups say the plant still won’t be clean enough.

The approval comes after Power For Georgians – the consortium of electrical cooperatives building the plant – decreased the planned amount of metal and carbon monoxide emissions as demanded by a court order.

But environmental groups argue that the utility companies aren’t taking into account tightening federal standards on pollutants like mercury scheduled to be released next month. Seth Gunning is with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Georgia.

"The utility industry has known for almost 20 years that these regulations are coming down the pipeline," Gunning says."That Power for Georgians is pushing for an air permit that doesn’t account for these pending regulations is going to pass a lot of costs off to the EMC rate payers that are footing the bill for Plant Washington."

Power for Georgian’s spokesman Dean Alford says that they can’t plan for what they don’t know.

"To say that we must meet future regulation is totally – not only unfair, but totally doesn’t work for anyone because we don’t know what those future regulations may or may not be because they have not been issues," Alford says.

Opponents of the air permit have 30 days to appeal.