Alabama utility to pay $200 million to settle federal air pollution case

April 25 -- Alabama Power Co. has agreed to spend more than $200 million on pollution controls and other measures at its James H. Miller Jr. coal-fired power plant near West Jefferson, Ala.

The company, as a partial settlement of Clean Air Act case with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, will reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from the plant, the EPA said.

"The combined reductions in SO2, NOx and particulate matter mandated by this settlement will greatly improve the air quality in Alabama and downwind states," said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department´s Environment and Natural Resources Division.