HENDERSON, Ky. — The Henderson County Fiscal Court voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the city-county planning commission's recommendation to rezone 2,000 acres along the Green River for a proposed power plant.

        The planning commission recommended changing the zoning of the property from agriculture to heavy industrial so the $1 billion, 1,000-megawatt plant could be built.

        There have been emotional discussions in the western Kentucky community about whether the jobs created to build the plant are worth the environmental consequences.

        A public hearing on the issue Sept. 24 lasted more than five hours.

        “When I became magistrate, I really wanted to please everybody, but you can't please everybody all the time,” Magistrate Jimmy Hicks said Tuesday before voting.

        Although the court has accepted the planning agency's recommendation, it still must enact a law for the rezoning to be official. First reading to do so is Oct. 9.

        The Henderson County Board of Zoning Adjustment also must grant a conditional-use permit.

        The proposed plant is being promoted by Kentucky Emerald Land Co., which controls 125 million tons of coal beneath eastern Henderson County, and Erora Group, a Louisville electric generation consulting and development firm.

        They are putting together the project to attract an electric generating company to build, own and operate the plant, using local coal mined by Patriot Coal Co.

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