Construction of a $2 billion coal-fired power plant in Washington County will not begin until next fall, but Peabody Energy Corp. decided to celebrate the preliminary work it had begun on the site with a white-tent ceremony on Wednesday.

The celebration was essentially an hour of back-to-back remarks from a long line of politicians, including Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who praised what would be called the Prairie State Energy Campus.

"For coal to be king again in Southern Illinois, it has to be clean, and that is what the Prairie State Energy Campus is all about," Blagojevich said.

The event also was an opportunity for the governor to award a $422,500 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The money will be used to help with the cost of connection to the power grid at the nearby Baldwin substation. Substation upgrades are part of the Prairie State project.

The project has broad, bipartisan support because of the 1,700 construction jobs and 450 permanent jobs the plant is to bring to this rural county of 17,500 residents. The area has suffered since the closing of several coal mines. The Prairie State Energy Campus is the largest private development project ever planned for Southern Illinois, Blagojevich said.

However, some environmentalists and public health groups say pollution from the project will be the equivalent of adding 2.2 million cars onto highways.

"This project will accelerate global warming, undermine the efforts in other states to cut global warming pollution and contribute to a climate crisis for our children," said Verena Owen, chair of the Illinois Sierra Club's Air Campaign, in a written statement afterward.

The Sierra Club is one of seven groups filing a legal challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's air permit with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The appeal was sent in overnight mail on Wednesday, plant opponents said.

Peabody executives have said the plant's pollution controls would eliminate 98 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions.

Doug Scott, director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, said the project has been thoroughly inspected by his office as well as the federal EPA and it is getting a green light. The energy company can both create jobs and protect the environment, he said.

"The two are not mutually exclusive," said Scott, who was at the soggy, chilly site where a constant drizzle kept people in topcoats. A handful of protesters pushing for organized labor at Peabody plants, including the proposed Washington County facility, stood quietly in the rain and passed out fliers.

A similar "celebration" was held at the future energy plant site Aug. 30 after the EPA approved Peabody's air permit, the last major hurdle since the plant was envisioned in 2001. Colin Kelly, president of Peabody Energy Corp., said the plant would take four to five years to build.

The Illinois Sierra Club, one of the most vocal opponents to the project, has endorsed Blagojevich in his bid for re-election against state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, even though the governor is a strong advocate for the power plant.

"In endorsements, we look at the entire record, and his is not a blemish-free record," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's Midwest Clean Energy Campaign, in an interview after the event. "This is the number one blemish."

But Blagojevich gets good marks for bringing wind power to state buildings in Springfield, cracking down on hospital incinerators statewide and creating a global warming task force, Nilles said.