JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A permit board of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality gave final approval Tuesday to a plan by Liberty Fuels to mine lignite, a soft form of coal, from about 1,000 acres in Kemper County over the next five years. The mine would feed the coal-fired power plant that Mississippi Power Co. is building nearby.

Environmentalists have fought mine permits because of their opposition to the $2.4 billion plant, but also because they say it would pollute streams leading to Okatibee Lake.