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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Duke Energy Corp.'s new $2.4 billion coal-fired generator in western North Carolina will be a "minor" source of pollution, North Carolina regulators said Friday, dealing a blow to environmental activists who had tried to halt the project.

The North Carolina Division of Air Quality said its assessment determined emissions of the new 800-megawatt generator, under construction at Duke's Cliffside Steam Station near Charlotte, will not reach the threshold of a "major" polluter.

The decision could allow Duke to sidestep a judge's order that the plant undergo a full environmental review to determine whether the company is using the best clean-air technology. "Minor" air polluters do not need to go through the Maximum Achievable Control Technology process.

"The first step in deciding whether to do MACT or not is deciding whether they are actually subject to it and meet the thresholds," said Keith Overcash, director of the Division of Air Quality, in an interview.

The division's analysis indicated Duke would not meet those thresholds, he said.

Though it's the first major environmental decision under new Gov. Beverly Perdue, she tried to distance herself from the announcement. Perdue had been opposed to licensing the Cliffside facility, but she said in a statement Friday that "since that permit was already issued, my job is to make sure that the emission of hazardous pollutants from this plant is kept to an absolute minimum."

Environmental groups, however, slammed the Democratic chief executive and said the decision puts public health at risk.

"We're extremely disappointed. That was not exactly what we expected from her administration," said Elyse Jung with the North Carolina Sierra Club. "She had campaigned on a pledge to reduce CO2 emissions and pollution in North Carolina. I don't think that this permit fulfills that pledge."

Overcash said the permit comes with strict controls, requiring extra testing of coal coming to the facility and the air around it.

A federal judge ordered Duke in December to undergo a full environmental assessment after environmental groups balked at the ongoing construction. U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg allowed Duke to continue building the facility but wrote at the time that it needed a thorough environmental review or the public could see "emissions capable of causing serious health problems."

Charlotte-based Duke began construction at the end of January, soon after receiving a permit. But a week later, a federal judge determined that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by scrapping a policy that required utilities to install the best available technology to capture mercury — a neurotoxin that can damage developing brains of fetuses and very young children.

Duke, however, argued that it was not subject to the best-technology assessment process. After the judge's order, it applied to get a new permit that would deem it a minor polluter.

"This designation by the (Division of Air Quality) confirms that the new Cliffside Unit 6 will have the strictest, most effective air emission controls available to protect public health and the environment," said Duke spokeswoman Marilyn Lineberger in a statement.

Gudrun Thompson, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents several environmental groups fighting to stop the project, disputed the state's assessment and questioned the numbers Duke gave regulators about the generator's emissions.

"We find it pretty hard to believe that an 800-megawatt system could be a minor polluter," said Josh Mogerman, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, another group fighting the project.

The generator is being built at Duke's Cliffside plant about 50 miles west of Charlotte. When it opens in 2012, Duke will close four of its five older coal plants at the site.

The five coal-fired units at Cliffside emit about 157 pounds of mercury a year. Duke officials have said the new generator will use equipment that will reduce mercury by 90 percent, but opponents have argued that technology exists that can reduce emissions by up to 98 percent.