Mississippi Power's Kemper County energy facility near DeKalb, Mississippi.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A Mississippi power plant that was hoped to be the first-ever "clean coal" plant in the nation halted its plans Wednesday.

The Atlanta-based Southern Company and Mississippi Powerthey are “immediately suspending start-up and operations activities” for the coal gasification unit at Mississippi Power's Kemper plant near Dekalb.

The companies said the action is being taken to preserve the safety and health of the workforce, as well as thesafety of the facility.

“We are committed to ensuring the ongoing focus and safety of employees while we consider the future of the project, including any possible actions that may be taken by the [Mississippi Public Service] Commission,” Southern Company Chairman, President andCEOThomas A. Fanning said in a. “We believe this decision is in the best interests of our employees, customers, investors and all otherstakeholders.”

The move is seen as a major blow to proponents of “clean coal” technology.

The project was to use a “gasifier” to turn a cheap and common grade of coal known as lignite into fuel thatwould churnoutcarbon emissions as a power plant burning natural gas.

Earlier this month, Southernthat key machinery used for the coal-powered section of the plant had started leaking. Repairs,they said, would take 18 to 24 months torepair.

Plans for the Kemper project were first announcedin 2006, with an estimated $1.8 billion price tag. After more than a decade and $7.5 billion spent, the plant is still not doing what it was intended to do. With itsmassive price tag, the facility became thepower plantper megawatt ever built in theU.S.

Earlier this month, Mississippi officials made it clear that they weren't buying the notion of “clean coal" anymore.

“Mississippians don’t want to pay for a ticket on a plane that isn’t going to fly,” Paul Patterson, a utilities investment analyst,the Wall StreetJournal.

In its announcement, Southern saidwhile the “clean coal” portion of the plant is suspended, Kemper will continuerunning on natural gas.

The move comes as Southern faces a similar financial fiasco with its controversial in Georgia.