Salt River Project recently announced a settlement with local residents who opposed expansion of a natural-gas plant near Coolidge.

That was apparently enough to convince the Arizona Corporation Commission to green-light the project on Wednesday.

SRP must get a permit from the Arizona Corporation Commission before the project may proceed, and, after the settlement, SRP reopened its request for one.

Critics of the expansion and even an SRP board member said they would like to see more details on the agreement, and conservationists argued that the utility should focus more on clean energy.

But the commission approved the permit 4-1.