jrk,

Remember its not what goes in, its what comes out (of the smokestack). Green field new coal plants are legally required to use the best technologies available, to clean the air. This is federal not state law.

Using hard anthracite coal is an earlier primitive, method to avoid installing pollution control equipment. It is sometimes resorted to, for old coal plants with the the minimum of pollution control equipment, to allow them to try to eke by the emissions requirements.

Its sort of like burning unleaded gasoline in your old clunker, that didn't have a catalytic converter so you lessened the lead pollution output. An old clunker without a catalytic converter even burning unleaded gas, is a worse polluter than 995 new cars.

But that higher priced coal drives up the operations cost of the old coaler, making it an even poorer reason to keep it running.

You ought to be happy that the old generation is being replaced with new coal and wind. New coal plants don't qualify for this anthracite exemption and frankly don't need it.