NIPSCO wants a green light from state regulators to dismantle the mothballed Dean H. Mitchell generating station in Gary, a move that could open the way for lakefront development.

Plans to take the massive coal-fired generating station down are part of an application for an electric rate increase that the utility filed Friday with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

But state regulators may need convincing. In January 2006, the IURC scuttled an agreement between the city of Gary and the utility to do the same thing.

The commission at the time said it was concerned about "the uncertain and open-ended nature" of that agreement. LaPorte County had fought to have NIPSCO reopen the plant, contending its closure had boosted electric costs for customers.

In Friday's filing, NIPSCO points out it would cost $587 million to restart the plant. Since closing Mitchell, NIPSCO has purchased a gas-fired generating plant in southern Indiana and electricity from wind farms.

In the previous IURC proceeding, a NIPSCO witness testified it could cost as much as $53 million to take the 485-megawatt power plant down.

The power plant and its twin smokestacks sit near the lakefront directly north of the Gary/Chicago International Airport.

The airport would like to see the power plant demolished to make way for the eventual lengthening of its cross-wind runway. The plant also sits just east of Majestic Star Casinos at Buffington Harbor. Casino magnate Don Barden in the past has proposed developing land there.

NIPSCO mothballed the Mitchell plant in January 2002, citing decreased demand because of the depressed steel industry and sagging economy. It is one of four large coal-fired power plants the utility owns.

MORE: NIPSCO wants 16 percent residential rate hike.