Duke halting coal burning at southwest Ohio power plant, was site of river oil spill

A utility says it will stop burning coal at a southwest Ohio power plant that was the site of a recent oil spill into the Ohio River.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy says it will retire the last two coal-fired units Sept. 1 at the New Richmond, Ohio, plant.

Duke says increasingly stringent federal regulations on power plant emissions are behind the decision. It had said earlier it would retire all coal-fired units there by January 2015.

Four oil-fired combustion turbines will remain at the site, primarily used for generating power during high demand.

Authorities said recently that cleanup was mostly complete of an estimated 9,000 gallons of oil spilled some 20 miles southeast of Cincinnati. Duke has said the spill apparently happened because of a valve left open.