ERLANGER — Plans for a controversial peaking plant at a Cinergy-owned site here have been dropped just days after passage of a Kentucky law making it harder to build such plants.

        In a letter received Wednesday by the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, Cinergy said it had decided not to build two natural-gas fired turbine peaking units at its Erlanger site. The letter asks the cabinet to terminate the air quality permit it had issued May 4, 2001.

        Electricity produced by the Erlanger station would have been sold on the open market. Residents from Erlanger and Crestview Hills cited concerns about pollution and noise.

        “I was really happy that Cinergy decided to relinquish their permit because it will result in a better environment for the people of Crestview Hills and the people of Northern Kentucky,” said attorney Jeffrey C. Mando. Crestview Hills paid for the appeal that Mr. Mando handled on behalf of Crestview Hills and seven other Kenton County cities.

        Dave Woodburn, a spokesman for Cinergy, said prices for power are falling, and there's an abundance of electricity on the market, prompting utilities throughout the nation to shelve plans for similar plants.

        “I'm glad that they finally elected to drop their permit,” Crestview Hills Mayor Paul Meier said. “All along, Cinergy's been telling the legislature that they wouldn't build the plant even though there was the pending legislation in Frankfort. However, they held onto the permit, and we still were fighting it through the appeal process.”

        Rep. Jon Draud, R-Crestview Hills, had pushed legislation to prevent such plants from being built within 2,000 feet of a residential neighborhood, historic structure, school, hospital or nursing home. The bill that Mr. Draud sponsored didn't pass, but a similar one patterned after his bill did.

        Mr. Draud said he was elated when the law was finally passed late Monday, just minutes before the 2002 legislative session ended.

        He praised attorney Phil Taliaferro for his role in rallying Erlanger residents behind Crestview Hills in its opposition to the plant.

        “I think it was absurd,” Mr. Draud said of Cinergy's proposal to build a peaking station on 13 acres on the Erlanger-Crestview Hills border. “I just think it was very inappropriate to put something 600 feet from a nursing home, 600 feet from a library and 800 feet from where people lived.”

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