Should be an interesting meeting since neither side plans to budge.

The N.C. Division of Air Quality will hold a public hearing in Charlotte on Thursday on air-quality permits for Duke Energy’s Cliffside Steam Station.

The hearing will involve the construction and operation permit for the 825-megawatt, coal-fired expansion of the plant under construction at the site. It will also involve renewing the operating permit for the five existing units at Cliffside.

It will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Government Center on East Fourth Street, room CH14.

The Stop Cliffside Coalition, which opposes the $1.8 billion expansion, will call for denial of the permit. “Coal plants are the largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions and major sources of toxic pollutants that foul our air and water, endangering public health,” it says in a release.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Business Journal article, by John Downey, and learn more about Duke Energy's Cliffside legal troubles here.

In related news: Duke Energy customers set record for winter energy use

And, in the Triad: Some Duke Energy Customers See Bills Double

The Stop Cliffside Coalition in April '09 at a Charlotte protest:

In December 2009, some of the protesters locked themselves to a generator on its way to Cliffside: