| |
/
Campaigns |
Clean Power
| Coverage -
Events -
Research -
Letters
Clean Power Media Coverage:
Download CR Postcard for other orgs
Download this image as postcards of Word
Illinois' mercury pollution from coal-fired plants increased 7
percent in 2008, U.S. says
By Michael Hawthorne Tribune reporter
December 28, 2009
Mercury pollution from coal-fired power
plants is increasing in Illinois even as it declines
nationwide, a troubling trend for the state because
emissions of the toxic metal tend to fall back to earth
close to the source.
The amount of mercury blown into the air by the state's coal
plants jumped by 7 percent last year, according to a Tribune
analysis of newly released federal data on industrial
pollution. By contrast, mercury emissions from all U.S.
power plants declined by 4 percent.
Only one other state, Michigan, recorded a larger increase
in pounds released. Texas tied Illinois for the second
largest, but emissions declined in 27 other states,
including Indiana, Ohio, Georgia and several others that
rely heavily on coal to generate electricity.
The increases in Illinois and several other states can be
attributed to power companies' burning more high-mercury
coal in 2008, without equipment to filter out the poisonous
byproduct. That type of coal generally contains less sulfur,
which helps companies meet federal limits on acid rain
pollution. There still are no national restrictions on
mercury emissions from power plants, the largest man-made
source of the toxic metal.
It takes only a small amount of mercury to pollute lakes and
streams. Nearly half of the nation's lakes contain fish
contaminated with harmful levels of mercury, according to a
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study released earlier
this year. The problem is so pervasive that Illinois and 43
other states advise people, especially women of childbearing
age and young children, to avoid or limit eating certain
types of fish.
EPA scientists also have determined that Chicago is a "hot
spot" where relatively large amounts of mercury fall. Nearly
two-thirds of the pollutant comes from sources within the
state.
"This shows why it is so important to have enforceable
limits in place nationwide," said Bruce Nilles, director of
the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.
Though Illinois adopted mercury limits on power plants three
years ago, the regulations won't take full effect until
midway through the next decade. The Obama administration has
proposed national limits, but power companies likely will
get several years to comply, meaning emissions could keep
rising in some states.
Mercury is one of dozens of toxic chemicals and heavy metals
that billow out of the smokestacks of coal-fired power
plants. The increases seen in Illinois and several other
states are striking because most other pollutants from coal
plants declined last year, including substances in
lung-damaging soot, smog and acid rain.
Carbon dioxide pollution that contributes to global climate
change also dipped last year, reflecting lower demand for
electricity because of the recession.
The hodgepodge of results on mercury emissions occurred
because levels of the metal can vary widely depending on the
type of coal burned. And most power plants still are not
equipped to scrub mercury droplets out of smokestack
exhaust.
In Illinois, where about half of the state's electricity
comes from coal plants, most power companies have switched
from coal mined in the state to sources in Wyoming and other
Western states. Western coal has lower amounts of sulfur, an
ingredient in acid rain, but it generally contains more
mercury.
The amount of mercury emissions in Illinois in 2008 rose to
4,466 pounds, up about 7 percent from 4,181 pounds in 2007.
Nationally, mercury emissions dropped to 88,871 pounds in
2008, down about 4 percent from 92,907 pounds in 2007.
Mercury emissions rose at three coal-fired power plants in
the Chicago area: two in Will County and one in Chicago's
Pilsen neighborhood. Emissions fell at plants in Waukegan
and Chicago's Little Village neighborhood.
Doug McFarlan, a spokesman for Midwest Generation, the
company that owns all five plants, said mercury pollution
should drop across the board this year. Mercury-scrubbing
equipment was installed in mid-2008 at the Chicago and
Waukegan plants and in July at the two Will County plants,
one in Joliet, the other in Romeoville. Under state rules,
all Illinois coal plants must reduce mercury pollution by 90
percent by 2015. "We're on track to meet those limits,"
McFarlan said.
This year, a federal appellate court threw out
industry-friendly rules imposed by the Bush administration
that would have given all U.S. power companies until the
2020s to reduce mercury emissions by 70 percent. Those rules
also would have let some plants keep releasing large amounts
of mercury as long as emissions slowly declined nationwide.
The Obama administration is pushing its own rules that would
require faster, deeper cuts in mercury pollution at each
power plant, a move that would fulfill one of the
president's campaign promises. Mercury controls are expected
to be included in a package of rules that also would clamp
down on soot, smog and acid rain pollution from coal plants.
"The agency is committed to following science and the law as
it develops a strategy to reduce harmful emissions from
these facilities, which threaten the air we all breathe,"
said Cathy Milbourn, an EPA spokeswoman.
Mercury is one of the last pollutants released by power
plants to be targeted for limits by environmental
regulators. The toxic fallout has become a lingering problem
even as other smokestack emissions have declined, mostly
because other chemicals are subject to federal limits.
 Congratulations to Brenda Becerra
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/slideshows/20091217_crawford.html
LVEJO would like to congratulate Brenda Becerra on her interview and
beautiful photographs in the WBEZ Segment on the Clean Power Campaigns
effort to pass a City Ordinance.
Thank you Brenda for your continued work and effort!
Love,
Kimberly Wasserman
Coordinator
Climate Activists Expose Carbon Trading Scam for "350" Global Day of Action
Media Release
Climate Activists Expose Carbon Trading Scam for "350" Global Day of Action
Tens of thousands of people gathered at 300 simultaneous events in more than 170 countries around the world today, for the 350 international day pf
climate action. One of the leading concerns raised this day was that corporate-driven "Carbon Trading" schemes have been blocking efforts to
solve the climate crisis and prevent the devastating impacts of climate chaos on the poor.
"In order to stabilize the climate before billions of people around the world suffer the consequences, it is imperative that carbon-trading schemes
are stopped and real, democratically determined solutions are implemented," said Hilary Moore of the Mobilization for Climate Justice, "that's why we
have compiled an international list of well-documented reasons showing how carbon trading is failing to deliver."
Led by Rising Tide North America, Carbon Trade Watch, the Camp for Climate Action and the Mobilization for Climate Justice, activists from around the
world helped compile hundreds of reasons exposing the fallacies and failures of carbon-derivatives markets and offsetting programs - such as the
displacement of food crops, the burning of valuable resources and massive subsidies given to oil, coal and other major climate polluters.
"We cannot afford to waste any more time and resources on such trading scams when so many lives and livelihoods are at stake," said David Vine of Rising
Tide North America, " We are hopeful this information will serve to dispel the many myths of carbon marketeering, encourage an outright rejection of
such false corporate solutions, and move us towards democratic, scientific and affordable strategies that show tangible, local benefits."
Many Domestic and international climate policy arenas, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, are prioritizing protection for
corporate profits and carbon-intensive industrial growth - through the marketing and offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions. This is not only
restricting resources for popular, climate justice solutions, but actually serving to increase current levels of climate pollution.
An online video report showing 350 such reasons why "carbon trading" is failing to work, as well as printed materials are available for download at:
www.350reasons.org
Latest
Event Photos
West Virginia:
LVEJO,
Eco-Justice, 8th Day Center for Justice and Topless America took a trip
down to West Virginia to visit residents who are fighting mountain top
removal
Organizations and residents of Chicago came together on June 8th for
a press conference at city hall to demand the closure of the two
coal power plants in the Little Village and Pilsen community. LVEJO
and other organizations from around the city are making the
connection from cradle to grave and are coming together to say NO TO
COAL!
We
need conservation, wheatherization and renewables: No Mountain Top
Removal, No Coal, No Capture Storage and Sequestration and NO CLEAN
COAL! Let's think outside the box and create thousands of jobs in
Chicago, by closing down the coal power plants and learn to conserve
and use our energy
Press Conference:
 
Energy election:
Neighbors' demands met as park plans develop
By D. Diane Douglas
| Special to the
Tribune |
January 28, 2009
The
Little Village neighborhood is finally getting its first public
park—but it's planned for a hazardous waste site.
The folks at the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization told
the City of Chicago and the
Chicago Park District, "Not so fast."
The site—the former Celotex plant at 28th Street and Sacramento
Avenue—is part of the federal Superfund program, which identifies and
cleans up abandoned hazardous waste sites. The soil on the 24-acre site
is contaminated.
Residents also were concerned about traffic. A 2006 study by the group
found one crash every two days at the intersection near the site.
A city camera now monitors the
intersection and a new stoplight sits a block away, said Kim Wasserman,
the organization's coordinator.
Wasserman's group threw another wrench in the works, angering their own
neighbors who have been itching for a new park.
"We said, 'Before you start on the park, we need to focus on people's
homes,' " Wasserman said, referring to surrounding homes suspected of
being contaminated too. "That started a 2-year battle with the
EPA: What kinds of tests? How deep?"
In the end, residents and the Little Village Environmental Justice
Organization got more than they asked for. "The EPA wanted to test 44
homes; 175 homes were cleaned up," she said, to standards higher than
what the government initially offered.
Resident Martha Castellano, who has a grandson with a blood disorder,
said she doesn't know the cause but she feels empowered to make sure the
air around her home at 27th and Whipple Streets gets cleaner.
"We'd like to have green space and trees and the plants," said
Castellano, 65, a retired bus driver who said her family must go to
U.S. Cellular Field to find a patch of green. She said she is elated
about the new park, but added it must be built in the safest manner
possible.
"We had a little bit of a struggle with the city to get the lights on
the streets and sidewalks," Castellano said. "But now we can see the
cleaning trucks go by. I'm gonna fight to get what we're supposed to
get. I'm gonna do it not only for myself—it's for my neighbors, for my
kids."
By D. Diane Douglas
|
Special to the Tribune
- January 28, 2009
Somebody needed
to clear the air in Chicago's
Little Village neighborhood.
For years, many residents grew tomatoes and cucumbers—but not in the
ground because they suspected the soil in their yards wasn't safe
enough for the food they would put on the family table.
"Homeowners who knew better grew produce in pots," said Kim
Wasserman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
coordinator. "Renters or people who hadn't been here that long
didn't know any better."
And for years residents assumed an awful burning smell that
permeated the air was annoying, yet safe to breathe. They adjusted
uncomfortably to a film of dull gray ash that blanketed windows in
the summertime.
"People in the
neighborhood would be like, 'What's that smell?'
" said Rafael Hurtado, 18, a high school senior
and group volunteer who has suffered from asthma
since 4th grade. He reasoned, "If it was
dangerous, they would have told us by now."
That tacit acceptance in what is one of the
Midwest's largest Mexican-American communities
concerned the organization, which decided to do
something about it. Members started giving Toxic
Tours.
Volunteers guide residents on a walking tour of
chemical sites, manufacturing and plastics
plants and brownfields to heighten awareness of
environmental hazards and provide tools for
keeping government officials accountable for
monitoring and cleaning up dangerous emissions,
deposits and more.
Robin Saha, a University of
Montana assistant professor of environmental
studies, wrote a book about grass-roots efforts
to tackle environmental racism around the
country. Saha said the tours are a sign "people
are taking what's good and bad about their
communities and owning it. In the process,
they're able to involve community members, raise
awareness of the issues that matter to them and,
frankly, call some industries out on the mat."
Environmental justice scholars identified two
decades ago what became known as "environmental
racism." A 2007
University of Michigan study found most
hazardous waste facilities are located in
minority areas. Another study from the
University of
Colorado at Boulder found that environmental
inequality exists in most large urban areas.
The toxic tours are a way to get residents
excited about learning how to communicate
concerns to businesses and government officials.
They learn to be alert for public meetings, how
to request documents in English and Spanish and
how to follow through on complaints and promises
by officials.
Wasserman said governments sometimes take the
easy way out of solving an environmental problem
rather than the safest.
"They want to argue to the decimal point what's
acceptable and not acceptable," Wasserman said
about issues like clearing the ash and replacing
yard soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons—a form of industrial waste from the
burning of coal, oil and gas.
Toxic Tours are the result of the green
revolution going grass-roots, Wasserman said.
Organizers from environmental justice groups say
sightseeing can be effective because it shows up
close how the same industries that provide jobs,
products and services can do a better job of
fueling the economy when they choose to or are
pressed to use greener technologies.
Wasserman said she believes the Little Village
environmental group, in working with—and
sometimes disagreeing with—other community
stakeholders and politicians, has boosted the
health and safety of residents.
"The smell is still around but not as bad as it
used to be," said Wasserman, whose group worked
with the
Environmental Protection Agency and Meyer
Steel Drum Inc. The company, at 3201 S. Millard
Ave., used to send ash into the air but now uses
a vacuum system to suck up the ash.
BY POPULAR DEMAND, THE COALYMPICS II
Community residents and students gather with Chicago activists to
participate in LVEJO's coalympics II. Gathered at the corner of
Kostner and 31st across the Little Village Lawndale High School,
blocks away from the coal fired power plant, students participated
in the coal games to draw attention to the problem of air pollution
in Little Village and Chicago, caused by the Midwest Generation Coal
Power Plant located in Little Village.
The participants took part in traditional Olympics events such as,
The Coal Dig, The Coal plant Jump and finally The CTA Dash Race.
These events mimicked real Olympic Games and where infused with an
environmental justice twist, to address the issue of air quality and
public transportation, especially since Mayor Dailey wants to bring
the games to Chicago in 2016. In order to even consider Chicago for
the games we must clean up our act and close down the two COAL POWER
PLANTS in Chicago (in the Little Village and Pilsen community).
*** LETS SHOW THE
WORLD THE GREEN CITY WE SAY WE ARE, BY CLOSING DOWN THE COAL POWER
PLANTS BY FEB 2009 AND REPLACING THEM BOTH WITH GREEN CAMPUSES***
Preparation of the event - Pics: 852,853,854,856,857,881,883,884
PARTICIPANTS PICS: 870,871
COMPETITION PICS: 890,891,893,896,897
AUDIENCE PICS: 906,907,911
AWARD CEREMONY PICS: 902,903,904,905
*** LETS SHOW THE WORLD
THE GREEN CITY WE SAY WE ARE, BY CLOSING DOWN THE COAL POWER PLANTS
BY FEB 2009 AND REPLACING THEM BOTH WITH GREEN CAMPUSES***
Follow Up:
11/20/2008
by John Dagys.
Nov. 20, 2008 - On a chilly autumn morning at the corner of 31st Street
and Kostner Avenue, young athletes competed for gold medals. Teams of
three fought through the coal dig and leapt over the coal hurdle before
sprinting to the bus dash, ending their journey at a cardboard cutout
signifying a downtown museum.
No, this wasn't the Olympics, but instead the second running of the
Coalympics, a competition in the Little Village neighborhood aimed at
raising awareness of two nearby coal-fired power plants that pollute the
city's skies.
The Crawford Generating Station at 3501 S. Pulaski in Little Village and
the Fisk Generating Station at 1111 W. Cermak in Pilsen are two of the
handful of remaining coal power plants in the state. Both plants, owned
by Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of California-based Edison
International, lie directly in the way of the proposed 2016 Olympics,
according to local activists.
Groups such as the
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), which
hosted the Coalympics event, want both plants shut down for the sake of
their community and the possible future Olympic games.
"This is not just for the Olympics, but it's for the people who have
lived here their whole lives and are affected by it every day," said
Alex Martinez, 17, who took part in the event. "For all of our voices to
be heard, we need to work as a group to make this happen."
Statistics from the LVEJO link more than 40 premature deaths each year
to power plant pollution, as well as 1,000 asthma attacks and 500
emergency room visits. The group says health conditions could worsen in
the years to come, especially considering that more than 100 schools lie
within a two-mile radius of a plant.
The Crawford and Fisk stations combined produce 230 pounds of mercury
emissions each year, in addition to pumping out 17,675 tons of sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, according to recent EPA estimates.
"If you look at the statistics, we need something now," said Samuel
Villasenor, clean power community organizer for LVEJO. "Those numbers
are just going to increase if we wait around and do nothing."
With over half the 95,000 Little Village residents under the age of 25,
Villasenor knows action needs to be taken now. But he said the
organization's seven-year-long fight will continue with a unique
approach.
"We definitely need to be proactive and reactive," he said. "We need
electricity, so we're promoting efficiency. If people can cut down on
how much electricity they use, we would need to build less."
Villasenor and two-dozen other supporters gathered to hold the
Coalympics, a short competition which saw youth contest three obstacles,
all aimed at helping bring pollution issues to light. At the end of the
games, three tie-dye t-shirt wearing competitors claimed the top prizes,
which were gold-painted asthma inhalers.
The goal of the event, Villasenor said, was to build media interest and
awareness of this ongoing issue.
Activists are now calling on the mayor to shut down the coal power
plants and help introduce new forms of renewable energy to fill the
energy void. This includes eco-friendly methods such as geothermal, wind
and solar power.
"If our mayor claims to be as green as he
really is, these are things that he should be indulging in his city to
show off," said Kimberly Wasserman, a LVEJO coordinator. "So when the
Olympics come, he can say, 'Look, not only did we shut down the coal
power plants for the sake of our residents; we're trying our hand
at renewable energy.'"
"That would put
Mayor Daley on the cover of Time Magazine, if he could pull off
something like that."
LVEJO and community advocates pay
a
little visit to Mayor Daley on "National Boss Day"
to demand clean air and better public transit, NOW!
Before the Olympics on 2016
 |
La Organización de
Justicia Ambiental de La Villita lucha por mejorar la calidad de
vida de la comunidad en medio de muchas adversidades, entre
ellas de recursos. La Arquidiócesis de Chicago aporta su
grano de arena mediante fondos de la Campaña de
Desarrollo Humano y Justicia Social.
La lucha por
otro parque en La Villita se ha convertido ya en una cuestión de
vida o muerte.
Y es que en torno a este noble reclamo, hay muchas cosas en
juego, entre ellas la vida de sus residentes, especialmente
jóvenes.
La Organización de Justicia Ambiental de La Villita (LVEJO,
por sus siglas en inglés) ha colocado la demanda de un nuevo
sitio de recreo en el centro de su batalla por considerarlo un
problema que choca frontalmente con sus propósitos de mejorar la
calidad de vida de los residentes del barrio. |
La
comunidad Latina en Chicago, especialmente la boricua,
recibió y veneró las reliquias del santo puertorriqueño
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, conocido como el Santo “Charlie”,
gracias a la cortesía de la orden Caballeros de Colón que
las trajo a la ciudad, donde permanecieron del 15 al 31 de
agosto.
Una
celebración por todo lo alto, con danzas folclóricas,
comidas, mariachis, juegos, niños, padres, maestros y
donantes compartiendo, música, diversión y, por supuesto,
una misa.
La escuela Santa Ana celebrará por tercera ocasión este 7
de septiembre su esperado “Reventón”, un encuentro festivo
que atrae a la comunidad en torno a la escuela y sirve de
reconocimiento a todos aquellos que apoyan a este centro
escolar en distintas formas, ya sea en donaciones o
ofreciendo su capital intelectual, como es el caso de la
Universidad de Notre Dame.
Patricia
Robles define su vida espiritual con un antes y un después
de los Cursillos de Cristiandad.
Y es que antes de esta experiencia,
para Robles ir a una misa no tenía mucho sentido y Dios
estaba un poco alejado de su vida.
|
SAVE THE DATE!
YOU ARE INVITED TO A
“LATINO LEADERSHIP BRIEFING ON GLOBAL WARMING”
MARCH 17, 2008 /
9:30 – 11:30 am
CHICAGO CENTER FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGY
445 N. SACRAMENTO BLVD. CHICAGO, IL
HOSTED BY:
THE NATIONAL LATINO COALITION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
and
CO-HOSTED BY:
LITTLE VILLAGE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATION (LVEJO)
Save the date! You are invited to a Briefing to learn more about the profoundly
important issue of global warming -- why it matters to Latinos, the challenges and
opportunities for us, and how it will disproportionately impact our community. A panel
of top issue experts will give presentations and answer questions.
The National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC) is a new effort comprised of
a number of national Latino organizations. We seek to inform, educate, and engage our
community on global warming. NLCCC members include the National Puerto Rican
Coalition (NPRC); Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA); National
Hispanic Environmental Council (NHEC); Mexican American Legal Defense and
Education Fund (MALDEF); the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC);
the Hispanic Federation; and the U. S. Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI).
Admission is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP to attend. Please RSVP to: Juan
Rodriguez, at jrodriguez@nheec.org or call 703-861-6064. Come learn about one of the
most important issues of our time!
LVEJO hosts Larry Lohman
with 4 pictures
Click on any thumbnail image for a larger view
Sulfur-emissions tax heading for board vote
Published February 21, 2007
COOK COUNTY -- The Cook County Board's Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a proposal to tax sulfur-dioxide emissions, a measure board President Todd Stroger said he would likely veto if it is passed by the board.
The committee voted 10-6 to approve the proposed tax, which could bring in $3 million.
The full County Board also met Tuesday and approved five measures to raise various fees expected to generate about $1.5 million this year. The board rejected proposals to increase taxes on food, liquor and hotels.
Stroger has said he will not raise taxes this year but he is open to raising fees, such as those charged to businesses for liquor licenses and building permits.
Board members are expected to begin voting on amendments to Stroger's proposed $3 billion budget Thursday.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Stroger, board near compromise
February 21, 2007
BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter
A compromise is in the works between Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and the commissioners who have just seven days left to pass a $3 billion budget.
They've been at odds since Stroger laid out a plan to slash the jobs of thousands of nurses, prosecutors and police to balance the budget without raising taxes. Last week, a dozen commissioners presented an alternative that would instead cut hundreds of Stroger's highest-paid managers.
"By Thursday, I truly believe there will be a compromise," Commissioner John Daley said, pointing to the day the 17-member County Board is set to begin the voting process.
But just what that compromise entails remains a work in progress.
"I don't think we're really that far apart," Stroger said, adding he expects to "have something that satisfies at least nine members," though he indicated he won't change his mind on closing underutilized health clinics.
Shot down Tuesday were proposals to raise taxes on restaurants, hotels and alcohol, though a board committee did approve a tax on coal-fired power plants. That could bring up to $6 million a year, but officials say a long legal fight is likely ahead.
spatterson@suntimes.com
Weird Weather Is Result of Global Warming
Planning for A Less Warm Future
(CBS) CHICAGO There's snow in Texas today and not a shovel's worth here in Chicago. What's going on?
More and more experts are beginning to believe it may be caused by global warming. There are some who even believe Hurricane Katrina was the result of global warming. CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot has more on a town hall meeting in Chicago today to discuss the city's plan for the future.
Katrina, the hurricane that ravaged New Orleans; the 1995 heat wave that left more than 700 people dead in Chicago -- experts say both of these devastating natural disasters were caused by global warming. "It's going to get a lot worse, a lot faster than anybody realizes," said UIC College of Medicine doctor Howard Ehrman.
More than 200 people gathered here at Whitney Young Magnet School for a global warming, town hall meeting. They came to hear city officials and community groups express the importance of taking care of the environment, now. "It's great for people to change light bulbs in their house and to walk -- that's all very important -- but themajor paradigm shift that has to be made is basically to get off carbon dioxide and fossil fuels," Ehrman said. The primary cause of global warming is carbon dioxide. It comes from power plants, airplanes, and car emissions. The carbon dioxide, along with pollution, collects in the air. The sun's heat is trapped. Then the Earth, warms up.
"It means we've got to put billions, not millions, but billions of dollars into public transit and we've got to stop building coal power plants and close the ones that exist down," added Ehrman. Young people at the meeting said they're willing to do their part to help the planet. "I'll probably shut off the lights, when they don't need to be on," said Whitney Young seventh grader Patrick Wieckowski. "I'll probably recycle more and I'll try to save water in my house."
The student said by taking action now, he'll protect the environment for future generations.
Today's global warming meeting is the first in a series of gatherings to take place this year about the issue.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
 |
ECOLOGÍA :
Fruta mortal de plantas energéticas
Javier Sierra
|
8 de julio de 2006
Si hubiera un campeonato mundial de resistencia a la contaminación atmosférica, el sur de Chicago sería un serio candidato para convertirse en sede de la competición. Acá, dos barrios abrumadoramente latinos resisten con especial heroísmo este bombardeo diario contra la salud de decenas de miles de personas.
Se trata de Little Village (La Villita) y Pilsen, comunidades que sufren la pésima fortuna de estar especialmente cerca de dos arcaicas plantas de generación de energía, la Crawford —la mayor fuente de contaminación en Illinois— y la Fisk. Son dos de las seis plantas de combustión de carbón en Chicago, y entre todas han cometido más de 7,600 violaciones contra las leyes de aire limpio.
Pero ni la ley ni la limpieza son ideales a los que aspiran estos dos enemigos de la salud pública, especialmente en los meses de julio y agosto, cuando el calor y la humedad hacen del respirar un trabajo forzado para demasiados residentes.
"Estos son días pegajosos, de cielos blancos y aire rancio, cuando sientes la mugre de la polución y el polvo de carbón pegado a la piel ", dice Kim Wasserman-Nieto, directora de la Organización de Justicia Medioambiental de La Villita (LVEJO), el grupo que a duras penas lidera la resistencia contra los asaltos de la contaminación. "La mayoría de nuestras familias con niños asmáticos tienen que cerrar las ventanas, y muchas de ellas no tienen aire acondicionado".
Desde que empezaron a operar en la década de 1950, estas plantas prácticamente no han realizado ninguna mejora en las instalaciones ni han aplicado ninguna de las salvaguardas de la Ley de Aire Limpio de 1970.
En el caso particular de la planta Fisk, anualmente, sus chimeneas emiten 4,300 toneladas de dióxido de azufre y más de 2,300 toneladas de dióxidos de nitrógeno, compuestos que contribuyen a la lluvia ácida y actúan como abrasivos en los pulmones.
El bombardeo químico también incluye 117 toneladas de partículas nocivas —causantes de enfermedades respiratorias y cardiovasculares— y 26 toneladas de compuestos orgánicos volátiles, conocidos agentes cancerígenos.
Según un estudio realizado por la Universidad de Harvard en 2000, las nueve plantas de combustión de carbón existentes en Illinois anualmente causan 300 muertes y 14 mil ataques de asma.
Sólo en las comunidades aledañas a las plantas Crawford y Fisk, cada año la contaminación causa la muerte de 41 personas, 2,800 ataques de asma y 500 visitas a las salas de emergencia.
"Al menos una vez cada tres o cuatro meses las plantas causan emisiones ‘accidentales’ que en un radio de 10 cuadras deja una capa de polvo de carbón en carros, casas y otras estructuras", dice Wasserman-Nieto. "¿Y qué hacen las autoridades para aliviar este problema? Nada".
Según un estudio del procurador general de Illinois, ninguna de las nueve plantas de carbón del estado jamás ha recibido una citación a causa de las violaciones.
Las corporaciones dueñas de estas plantas han encontrado en la Administración Bush a su mejor aliado.
En 2003, la Agencia de Protección Medioambiental (EPA) decidió suspender sus investigaciones de 50 plantas energéticas en todo el país por violaciones a la Ley del Aire Limpio. Esto surgió a raíz de la decisión de la administración de "asegurar mejoras en la calidad del aire que sean económicas".
Crawford y Fisk también se benefician de decisiones federales que permiten a plantas viejas y sucias evitar mejoras en sus instalaciones que reducirían sus niveles de contaminación.
Esta falta de acción nos perjudica especialmente a los latinos. Según estudios, los niños de familias con ingresos inferiores a los 20 mil dólares anuales tienen el doble de probabilidades de contraer asma que los de familias más acomodadas. Asimismo, el 80% de los latinos vivimos en los condados del país con la peor calidad de aire.
Atacar este problema también tiene sentido económico. Según la EPA, en sus primeros 20 años, la Ley del Aire Limpio le ha costado al país unos 500,000 millones en mejoras, pero le ha ahorrado unos 22 billones en gastos médicos y laborales.
Si estas plantas se atuvieran a los estándares de la Ley de Aire Limpio, se evitarían cerca del 70% de las muertes y ataques de asma.
Mientras tanto, en Little Village, Pilsen y en el resto de las comunidades alrededor de las 500 instalaciones exentas de cumplir con los estándares anticontaminación del siglo XXI en todo el país, cientos de miles de personas siguen recolectando la fruta mortal de estas plantas.
Como dice Wasserman-Nieto, "En La Villita, no hay un momento de respiro".
Javier Sierra es columnista del Sierra Club.
© Copyright, 2006 Lozano Enterprises. All Rights reserved
Mercury Rule Press Conference
LVEJO Coordinator Kim Wasserman translates Elda Godinez' speech at the Mercury Rule Press Conference.
below...
LVEJO Director Kim Wasserman and Campaign Coordinator Elda Godinez's speeches from the latest meeting regarding community Health issues
Download the speeches as a Word document
 |
For too long, Little Village, Pilsen and Communities across Chicago have been paying the price of pollution from the Crawford and Fisk Coal Power Plants. Every month we pay our electric bills YET we pay a deadlier price in health, education, economic and environmental affects from their harmful pollution.
A 2001 Harvard School of Public Health Study shows that these 2 plants cause 41 premature deaths, 2800 asthma attacks, and 550 emergency room visits every year. The majority of the victims live within 1-2 miles of the power plants’ chimneys in Pilsen and Little Village, but the billions of fine particles, mercury, smog and global warming produced by these plants every day are affecting everyone’s health in Chicago, and our suburbs. |
- According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism. In 2002, 14.7 million school days were missed due to asthma. 2
- For every day missed, our schools lose $100 PER DAY PER CHILD from the state and our children fall further behind in their education.
- The main reason we parents stay home to take care of our sick children is because they have asthma.
- So all of our employers, be they public or private; local or national are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each day because of these 2 power plants.
The owner of these 2 plants is Edison International, the 7 th largest energy company in the U.S.
According to the Fortune 500 in 2005, Edison’s profits rose 24% in just 1 year to $1.14 Billion, with revenues of $11.9 Billion and Assets of $34.8 Billion.
- That means Edison is making more than $32 million per day!
- Every 8.9 days another person dies prematurely due to the Crawford & Fisk Power Plants.
- During those same 8.9 days Edison takes in $285 Million!
- In the 7 years since Edison purchased these 2 plants there have been 287 human beings die prematurely.
- Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's office has documented more than 7,600 violations since 1999 at six coal plants owned by Edison including Crawford, Fisk and 3 in the suburbs.
Yesterday, ½ Million of us marched for our democratic rights as immigrants. Today, we march for environmental justice and our human rights.
National & State “cap & trade” programs on the 2 pollutants which combine to form fine particles, sulfur dioxide (SOx) and nitrous oxide (NOx), don’t work for older, dirtier plants like Crawford & Fisk. Each, along with 300 plants nationwide, have increased the release of SOx & NOx since 1995, the first year the U.S. Clean Air Act capped SOx emissions at power plants.
THAT IS WHY WE NEED A CITY OF CHICAGO CLEAN POWER ORDINANCE NOW!
The City of Chicago has the legal right to pass a Clean Power Ordinance requiring Edison International to pay a small portion of its Billions in profits to clean-up Crawford & Fisk.
Midwest Generation, Edison’s Subsidiary, thinks it can buy our silence by spreading money around the community – but we won’t let them succeed.
Every day we see the results of the pollution they spew into the air.
It's time for Chicago to stop footing the bill. Mayor Daley and the City Council need to pass the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance NOW for our health, education, economy and environment.
Elda Godinez - 3 minutes
download speech in spanish, in english
May 8th Speech Baby Buggy Brigade
Hola mi nombre es Elda Godinez
Y soy una residente de la Comunidad de La Villita en Chicago
Como todos nosotros y como madre, me preocupan los efectos del mercurio en la salud de mi hija y de otros niños en Illinois. Puedo ver las dos chimeneas de la planta eléctrica de carbón Crawford desde la puerta de mi casa.
La Comunidad de La Villita le pide a la mesa directiva del Control de la Contaminación en Illinois que apoye y pase la Ley del Mercurio propuesta por el Gobernador Blagojevich para limpiar por un 90% toda la contaminación del Mercurio en todas las plantas eléctricas de carbón en todo Illinois para el 2012.
Estas plantas de carbón en Illinois, incluyendo Crawford y Fisk, las únicas dos en Chicago, emiten 39% del mercurio en Illinois
El Mercurio de estas plantas cae en nuestros ríos, lagos, en los jardines donde plantamos vegetales y el la tierra donde nosotros vivimos y donde nuestros hijos juegan.
Mucha gente pobre y trabajadora en nuestro estado vive de los peces que ellos pescan y los vegetales que ellos cultivan, especialmente en el verano. .
Muchos de nuestros vecinos pescan en los ríos y lagos de Illinois como un pasatiempo o diversión, sin saber que estos pescados están contaminados por mercurio gracias a las plantas eléctricas de carbón que hay en nuestros vecindarios.
El mercurio es una de las sustancias mas toxicas y puede dañar permanentemente el cerebro, riñones y el desarrollo del feto. Una exposición pequeña a altos niveles del mercurio puede causar danos al pulmón, nausea, vomito, diarrea, incrementar la presión sanguínea o los latidos del corazón, ronchas en la piel e irritación de los ojos..
Niños de corta edad son mas sensibles al mercurio que los adultos. El mercurio en el cuerpo de la madre pasa al feto y se puede acumular ahí. También puede pasar al bebe amantado por medio de la leche, aunque los beneficios de amamantar en la mayoría de las veces sobre pasa este riesgo.
Los defectos dañinos que un feto puede desarrollar incluyen daño al corazón, retardo mental, ceguera y problemas para hablar.
Le pido a todos nosotros que estamos hoy aquí que hablemos con nuestras familias, amigos y compañeros de trabajo a unirse a la Campana Libre de Mercurio para asegurarnos de la aprobación de la Ley del Gobernador.
Una vez que ganemos esta Victoria, necesitamos seguir trabajando juntos para limpiar toda la otra contaminación que sale de estas plantas como: Hollín, Dióxido de Fluoruro, Smog, Dióxido de carbón entre otros, que están causando el calentamiento de la tierra.
Invitación a Patti Blagojevich
We moms of Little Village would like to cordially invite you to visit our community, our parks, gardens, houses and the industrial areas that affect our health, and to meet all of our families who support the Governor’s Mercury Rule.
Our community which houses 100,000 people has the highest density of children per capita in the state, and the largest percentage of women of child-bearing age. For all these reason we are so vulnerable to the effects of Mercury and are affected by all the pollution from the coal power plants.
We sincerely hope you will accept our invitation.
Download the informative Coal Power Brochure
What you can do to educate yourself and fight! Read a citizen letter to Exelon from Chester Kos
Enviros sue EPA for alleged violations at Ill. coal plants
A coalition of environmental groups sued the U.S. EPA yesterday in federal court, saying the agency has failed to enforce federal standards for ozone smog and fine-particle pollution at five Chicago-area power plants owned by Midwest Generation.
The coalition, which includes the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said the five coal-fired plants have neither the proper permits nor compliance schedules for when violations occur. Midwest Generation spokesman Doug McFarland confirmed that the plants do not have the permits in question. But he said none of the plants has violated Clean Air Act regulations.
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman: "We continue to work with Illinois EPA. In the meantime, we are making sure the plants comply with the law and their current permits." Of the five plants named in the lawsuit, there are two in Chicago and one each in the Illinois cities of Joliet, Romeoville and Waukegan
(Gary Wisby, Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 14).
More power — more jobs
Midwest Generation: To resume operation of 2 units in Romeoville By Jill Jedlowski - STAFF WRITER
ROMEOVILLE — Midwest Generation said Friday that it will resume operation of two power-generating units at its coal-fired station in town next year.
The move will add about 30 jobs.
These units were temporarily shut down in early 2003 because of market conditions, according to a Midwest Generation representative. Specifically, the company's main customer, local utility operator Exelon Corp., cut back on energy purchases.
"Our decision to resume operations reflects the strength and outlook for our fleet of coal-fired plants in Illinois," said Georgia Nelson, president of Midwest Generation. "Since we suspended operations in 2003, general market conditions have improved, and our coal plants have performed exceptionally well in the increasingly competitive market for wholesale power."
She noted that as the independent power industry works to recover from a downturn a few years ago, Midwest Generation has repaid or restructured about $2.6 billion in debt and lease obligations.
Reinstating operation of the two units in Romeoville means the company will fill about 30 more jobs at the station. Adding the jobs would be a 20 percent increase over its current 157 employees. Employees at any Midwest Generation site will be eligible for the positions.
The company plans to talk with local union leadership within the next couple of weeks about the process of hiring for the jobs, said Doug McFarlan, vice president of public affairs. He said the units hopefully will be operational again by early next year.
"We're talking about moving pretty quickly here," McFarlan said.
The two units that are starting up again have a capacity of about 300 megawatts — enough electricity for 350,000 homes. Two other Will County Station units with a capacity of about 780 megawatts continue to function.
New pollution controls will cut in half the units' rate of nitrogen oxide emissions, which can contribute to smog, compared to when Midwest Generation acquired its Illinois plans in 1999. Prior to suspending operations in 2003, the company already had reduced sulfur dioxide emissions at these units by
40 percent. Similar decreases were achieved for the other two Will County units and the entire Midwest Generation fleet.
In May, Midwest Generation announced it would close its Collins Generating Station near Morris. The decision meant cutting 94 jobs and has the
potential to take away millions in tax dollars from local schools and other government services.
The Collins power plant is scheduled to begin shutting down in January.
08/28/04
Governor urged to cut coal emissions
Group says new U.S. rules weak
By Trine Tsouderos - Tribune staff reporter - Published July 29, 2004
Standing in the shadow of a giant inflatable fish in Waukegan Wednesday, environmentalists and state lawmakers called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to require the state's coal-burning power plants to sharply reduce toxic emissions, especially mercury, which they said causes birth defects and developmental problems in children.
"We believe we deserve the same level [as other states] of protection in Illinois," said Rebecca Stanfield, an environmental attorney with Illinois Public Interest Research Group, at a news conference.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a report summarizing the environmental and economic impact of imposing stricter emission standards on power plants, such as those in Joliet, Romeoville and Waukegan, than the federal government will require.
IEPA spokesman Dennis McMurray said the agency expects to submit its report to the General Assembly and the governor's office in August.
Ninety days after the report is submitted, the IEPA can propose new power plant emissions rules to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, which has a year to act on them, he said.
Local and state politicians, along with organizations such as the Sierra Club, Lake Michigan Federation and Illinois Public Interest Research Group, are urging Blagojevich to require the state's coal-burning plants to drastically cut toxic emissions, especially mercury.
"Thousands of residents live every day with their lives impacted by mercury," said state Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), standing in front of handmade signs proclaiming "No More Mercury!" "Yet the feds have taken no action to clean up emissions."
New federal standards on mercury emissions are due out next year, but state environmentalists say they don't go far enough.
Blagojevich's spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor agrees.
"He was certainly concerned about the standards proposed at the federal level," Ottenhoff said, adding that Blagojevich is in favor of stricter rules for state power plants.
But an Illinois power plant industry spokesman said the new federal standards will cut mercury emissions significantly and a patchwork of state regulations would cripple the state power industry.
"We strongly oppose state standards being different from federal standards," said Doug McFarlan, spokesman for Midwest Generation.
Different state standards "will only disadvantage Illinois businesses and jobs," McFarlan said.
"Our industry is competitive, and that competition crosses state lines," he said. "By having consistent nationwide reductions, we can and will achieve ongoing emissions in a balanced manner that does not risk jobs or the supply of electricity in Illinois."
Research showing the calamitous effect of methylmercury on fetuses and young children has fueled efforts to cut mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants. The particularly toxic form can be created when smokestack exhaust falls into waterways.
"We have the opportunity to prevent unnecessary pollution and the unnecessary costs that come with it," said state Rep. Kathleen Ryg (D-Vernon Hills), the smokestacks of Waukegan's power plant visible in the background.
" We are here today to ask Gov. Blagojevich to prevent the unnecessary pollution."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
Clean Power Flyers / Letter Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 23, 2004
Activists call on Governor to Clean up Power Plants that Unfairly Pollute
Neighborhoods Where Most Latinos Live
More than 9 out of 10 Latinos Live in Polluted Communities
A new report issued today in Chicago finds that nationally more than 7 out of 10 Hispanic Americans, or 71 percent are breathing air that violates federal pollution standards, even though Latinos comprise only13 percent of the population. The report, Air of Injustice: How Power Plant Pollution Affects the Health of Hispanics and Latinos, documents the effects of air pollution on Hispanic Americans, including health impacts of air pollution from power plants, the largest industrial sources of pollution. The report was released Thursday by a coalition including the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Illinois Public Interest Research Group, and Centro Comunitario Juan Diego, and was written by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Clear the Air.
The group claims the situation in Illinois is much worse. More than 9 out of 10 Latino Illinois residents live in areas that don't meet minimal health standards for air quality. More than 92 percent of Illinois Latinos live in the Chicago Metropolitan area, which fails to meet federal air quality standards for ozone smog and fine particulate matter soot. Over 93 percent of Latinos statewide live in areas that fail to meet health standards, even though Latinos make up only 12.3 percent of Illinois' population. Ozone smog can irritate and burn lung tissue, causing symptoms such as chest tightness, coughing and wheezing. It also triggers asthma attacks and makes breathing difficult for people who suffer from lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Fine particulate matter can worsen many of the same lung health problems, and is also associated with increased numbers of heart attacks and premature deaths. Both pollutants are responsible for increased hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
POWER PLANTS LARGELY TO BLAME
Not only are the vast majority of Latino residents living in areas that fail to meet minimal health standards, but they are also live in close proximity to the largest industrial sources of air pollution in Illinois, coal-fired power plants. Over 87 percent of Illinois Latinos live less than 30 miles from a power plant, the distance within which maximum impacts on human health are felt. Nationally, only 39 percent of the Latino population lives within that distance. Many thriving Latino neighborhoods are directly in the shadow of huge coal-fired power plants. Within Chicago, all neighborhoods that are more than 90 percent Latino, including Little Village, Pilsen and Humbolt Park, are all less than 5 miles from either Midwest Generation's Fisk or Crawford power plants on Chicago's West Side. Earlier this year, a major hospital health study indicated that as many as 27 percent of all school children in the Humbolt Park neighborhood suffer from asthma.
Within the Chicago region, a majority of communities that are 50 percent or more Latino are within 10 miles of a power plant. In greater Waukegan, >42 percent of all Latinos living in Lake County live less than four miles from the Midwest Generation's Waukegan Generating Station. In the Joliet area, >44 percent of Latinos in Will County live less than five miles from either Midwest Generation's Joliet 9 or Joliet 29 coal-fired power plants. None of these power plants in northern Illinois have "scrubbers", which would greatly reduce soot-forming pollution they emit. Only three out of 23 old coal-fired power plants in Illinois have such devices.
Power plant pollution can be dangerous, and even deadly. In 2001, a published report by researchers at the Harvard University School of Public Health indicated that emissions from nine coal-fired power plants in northern Illinois cause 320 premature deaths a year, and that the area of greatest health risk was on the southwest side of Chicago and in Cicero. Another study released in July utilized U.S. EPA's own methodology for calculating the health damage caused by power plant pollution and found that Illinois will continue to suffer over 1,350 premature deaths and nearly 34,000 additional preventable asthma attacks every year until power plant pollution is greatly reduced.
Latinos are more at risk of health problems because of air pollution from power plants. Nationally, the incidence of asthma in children of Latino mothers is two and a half times that of non-Latino white children. Over half of Latinos under the age of 65 do not have health insurance. Overall, Hispanics account for an alarming one-quarter of the nation's 74 million uninsured people. The increased exposure to air pollution makes Latino families more vulnerable to health problems associated with air pollutants such as low birth weight and asthma attacks. Factors such as poverty, language barriers and lack of access to health care increase the danger.
GOVERNOR'S PROMISE TO CLEAN UP POWER PLANTS
Coal fired power plants can and should be much less polluting. Unfortunately all 23 older coal fired power plants in Illinois are exempt from federal requirements to install the best pollution controls and have been from over 25 years. When he was running for office Governor Blagojevich said that he intended to set new long-term clean emission standards for dirty Illinois power plants, and had a plan to convert old, dirty coal plants to clean efficient ones that cut up to 98 percent of the pollution. The groups releasing the report called on the Governor to fulfill his campaign pledge to clean up older coal fired power plants, especially those that are unfairly harming the Latino community in the Chicago region. By the end of September 2004, state law requires the Illinois EPA to release a report on the need for tighter pollution caps on all coal-fired power plants. The groups called on Governor Blagojevich to enact state pollution rules that eliminate at least two-thirds of the smog and soot pollution and 90 percent of the toxic mercury from power plants by 2010. Such rules must result in significant reductions at all Chicago area power plants. They also called for the rules to ensure that more than 90 percent of all power plant pollution is eliminated in Illinois by 2020.
Recent years have seen attempts in Washington to weaken federal clean air laws. U.S. Environmental Protection data released yesterday show that some pollutants from coal-fired power plants, like sulfur dioxide, actually increased by 3 percent from 2002 to 2003 in Illinois.
"The Latino community suffers from the health threats associated with air pollution at epidemic proportions," said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health for the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. "All Americans deserve stronger safeguards to reduce pollution from the oldest and dirtiest power plants. But the hundreds of thousands of Hispanic Illinois residents who breathe dirty air are among those with the most to gain - and the most to lose if Governor Blagojevich fails to act."
"Our civil rights include the right to breathe healthy air, the right to raise healthy children, the right to challenge the companies that
pollute and petition the government charged with protecting us," said Dr. Howard Ehrman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization president. "LVEJO has been fighting for clean air and a clean environment for the last 5 years, and we are demanding Governor Blagojevich recognize the damage air pollution causes our families and implement real steps toward tighter limits on air pollution from the largest polluters."
For Immediate Release:
For More Information:
September 23, 2004
Rebecca Stanfield, 312-364-0096
Lara Melton, 312-427-2114 x 8
New Air Quality Report Documents Dangerous Smog and Soot Levels in Illinois in 2003 Governor Blagojevich Urged to Cut Emissions from Power Plants
The Chicago and East St. Louis metropolitan areas were hit repeatedly by dangerously high levels of smog and soot pollution in our air in 2003, according to air quality monitoring data released by the Illinois PIRG Education Fund today. The report comes as the Blagojevich administration faces a September 30 deadline to issue a report on how to address air pollution from coal burning power plants.
"More than 8 million Illinoisans live in areas where just breathing the air can cause health damage, from asthma attacks to heart attacks" said Rebecca Stanfield, Staff Attorney for Illinois PIRG Education Fund. " This is health damage to our kids, senior citizens and others that should not be tolerated when we can solve so much of the problem by cleaning up our power plants in Illinois. This is the responsibility of Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and we are anxiously awaiting their recommendations," she continued.
The report was released one day after U.S. EPA released an air quality report noting the vast achievements of the Clean Air Act since it was adopted in 1970. Unfortunately, the U.S. EPA data also showed an increase in emissions of sulfur dioxide of about 3 percent in Illinois between 2002 and 2003.
Among the findings of the report were:
-
In 2003, ozone monitors in the Chicago metropolitan area (extending into portions of Wisconsin and Indiana) recorded dangerous levels of ozone smog 29 times, on 13 days.
Chicago was among the worst 15 large metropolitan areas for smog days in 2003.
-
In 2003, ozone monitors in the St. Louis metropolitan area, extending into Illinois, recorded dangerously high levels of ozone smog 66 times, over 18 days. St. Louis was among the worst 10 large metropolitan areas for smog days in 2003.
Statewide, ozone monitors in Illinois recorded dangerously high levels of ozone smog 30 times over 11 days in 2003. For comparison, in 2002 Illinois monitors recorded unsafe smog levels 217 times on 35 days; and in 2001 the monitors recorded unhealthy smog levels 40 times on 17 days.
-
In 2003, both the Chicago and East St. Louis metro areas had year-around fine-particle "soot" levels that exceeded are considered hazardous to public health. This means that in these metro areas there were chronic and persistent levels of fine particles that can cause sickness and premature death. The national year-around standard for fine particles is 15 micrograms per cubic meter, while monitoring data from East St. Louis showed a year round average of 18.1 micrograms per cubic meter, and monitoring data from Chicago showed a year-round average concentration of 17.4 micrograms per cubic meter.
-
Despite the high year-around concentrations, Illinois monitors thankfully did not record any fine particle "spikes" in 2003, where concentrations increase to very high levels over a 24-hour period.
This year, U.S. EPA designated 11 counties in Illinois as officially in " nonattainment" with the federal health standard for ozone smog, meaning that ozone levels in the air are high enough on a regular basis to cause health damage to people living and breathing in these areas. These counties are in the Chicago and East St. Louis metro areas, and are home to 8 million people. In June, U.S. EPA released a preliminary list of nonattainment areas for fine particles, which included all of the same counties, plus Randolph County. The state is required to submit and implement a plan to bring these areas into compliance with the federal smog and soot health standards, or will be subject to enforcement mechanisms under the Clean Air Act.
"Unfortunately, the Bush administration spent the last 3 years weakening federal rules regulating pollution from power plants," said Lara Melton, Environmental Field Organizer for Citizen Action-Illinois. She noted that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan had filed suit to invalidate Bush administration actions to allow power plants to emit more pollution. "The leadership that is sorely lacking at the federal level needs to be provided by our governor and our IEPA," she continued.
Ground-level ozone, or "smog," is a gas that is formed when nitrogen oxides from power plants and other sources mix with heat, sunlight and other chemicals in the air. Summertime smog can trigger asthma attacks, and reduce the long-term function of our lungs. "Fine particle soot" is comprised of microscopic particles that lodge in our lungs. Over the last decade medical research has found that exposure to these particles can cause serious heart and lung damage, and even premature death. Power plants are the largest industrial source of the pollutants that cause smog and soot formation in Illinois.
"Opponents of strong air emission controls will tell you that the air in Illinois is getting cleaner, but are the improvements anything worth bragging about?" said Melton. "We have cardiac patients, elderly, and children with asthma who turn on the news in the morning, wondering if they can go outside. Doctors will consider the air quality before discharging patients from the emergency room. In terms of the quality of life, where are the improvements?"
"Clearly we can celebrate the achievements of the Clean Air Act, which has dramatically reduced air pollution over the last 34 years," said Stanfield.
" However, these achievements should not be used as excuses for doing less to make our air safe to breathe. We can't afford to rest on our laurels or go backwards now, when thousands of people are experiencing asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death due to air pollution in Illinois each year.
EPA Wording Found to Mirror Industry's Influence
on Mercury Proposal Probed
By Juliet Eilperin - Washington Post Staff Writer - Wednesday, September 22, 2004; Page A29
For the third time, environmental advocates have discovered passages in the Bush administration's proposal for regulating mercury pollution from power plants that mirror almost word for word portions of memos written by a law firm representing coal-fired power plants.
The passages state that the Environmental Protection Agency is not required to regulate other hazardous toxins emitted by power plants, such as lead and arsenic. Several attorneys general, as well as some environmental groups, have argued that the Clean Air Act compels the EPA to regulate these emissions as well as mercury.
The revelations concerning language written by Latham & Watkins could broaden an ongoing probe by the EPA's inspector general into whether the industry had an undue influence on the agency's proposed mercury rule, legislative critics of the proposed rule said.
Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and one of the senators who called for the probe last spring, said the revelation that the EPA adopted the same wording as an industry source "no longer comes as much of a surprise."
" The Bush administration continues to let industry write the rules on pollution, and this is just one more example of how they abuse the public trust," he said.
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman would not comment on the connection between the law firm memo and the agency's proposal beyond saying that it is "a public document. It was publicly debated as part of the rulemaking process."
She added that pollutants such as lead and arsenic are not the central issue: "EPA continues to be most concerned with mercury. We will be regulating mercury emissions from power plants for the first time, and we will concentrate on the need to protect children and pregnant women."
Environmentalists have assailed the EPA for months arguing that the mercury rule, slated to be finalized next March, would not adequately curb a toxin that can enter the food chain through fish and cause developmental damage in infants and young children.
The rule, they said, does nothing to limit chromium, lead and arsenic pollution from utilities, all of which exceed mercury emissions and could pose a health threat.
" The big story here is the public health story; things like arsenic, lead and chromium are being released in very large quantities and pose a very serious health threat," said John Stanton, a senior lawyer for Clear the Air, an environmental coalition that spotted the similarities between the regulation's language and the industry memo.
The proposed regulation concludes that although the EPA determined in 2000 that arsenic, chromium and other metals are potential carcinogens, there is too much uncertainty to justify regulating them.
That conclusion is backed by two sections of the proposed rule that address whether the EPA is compelled to regulate non-mercury pollutants, an issue that first arose in 1990 when Congress rewrote sections of the Clean Air Act. At the time, Congress made an exemption for the utilities, saying the EPA should study whether it was both "appropriate and necessary" to regulate them. In 2000, in the waning months of the Clinton administration, the EPA concluded that utilities should be listed as a source of toxic emissions and regulated accordingly.
In light of the 2000 decision and past studies, EPA officials said they are obligated to regulate only mercury in coal-fired power plants and nickel in oil-fired plants. The nine attorneys general and two state environmental secretaries wrote the agency on June 28 saying the EPA is legally required to address other pollutants as well, citing a 2000 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The Aug. 5, 2002, memo from Latham & Watkins, submitted during the public comment period on the rule, said hazardous air pollutants other than mercury did not need to be regulated. It made multiple references to statements by Rep. Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio) that "Congress provided a distinct regulatory mandate for utility [hazardous emissions] because of the logic of basing any decisions to regulate on the results of scientific study and because of the emission reductions that will be achieved and the extremely high costs that electric utilities will face under other provisions of the new Clean Air Act amendments."
The EPA used nearly identical language in its rule, changing just eight words. In a separate section, the agency used the same italics Latham lawyers used in their memo, saying the EPA is required to regulate only the pollutants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act "after considering the results of the study required by this paragraph." The memo uses the word "subparagraph" instead of paragraph but is otherwise identical.
Latham lawyer Robert A. Wyman Jr., who authored the memo, declined to comment last week on grounds that the firm does not discuss client matters unless directed to do so.
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year on instances in which industry-written language had surfaced in the mercury proposal. A spokesman for the inspector general's office said its investigation of the issue should be done by early next year.
For Immediate Release: June 8, 2004
Contact: Ryan Canney 312-427-2114 x6 - Rebecca Stanfield 312-364-0096 - Brian Urbaszewski 312-628-0045
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
HEALTH, PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS TO UNVEIL NEW REPORT AND WEB SITE SHOWING HEALTH IMPACTS OF POWER PLANTS ON ILLINOIS RESIDENTS
New study links in-state air pollution to 2,361 heart attacks, 1,356 premature deaths in Illinois each year
Chicago - On WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2004, 10am at the Alivio Medical Center, advocates for public health and clean air will hold a press conference to release Dirty Air, Dirty Power - the new Clear the Air study and Web site that reveal, in unprecedented detail, the human cost of air pollution. The analysis, performed by EPA's own air quality consultants using EPA standard methodology, documents premature deaths, heart attacks, lung cancer deaths, asthma attacks, hospitalizations, and lost work and school days due to pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The report's Web site allows Illinois residents to find the power plants in their region and see the EPA's statistics about the harmful effects from dirty power. Additionally, Illinois residents can compare the differences among a variety of air pollution plans including the Clean Air Act and the Bush administration's plan. The Web site will also let the people of Illinois see-for the first time-the direct impact that power plants in their region have on their own lives.
WHO: Ryan Canney, Citizen Action/Illinois
Brian Urbaszewski, American Lung Association of Chicago
Rebecca Stanfield, Illinois PIRG
Dr. Sam Dorevitch, MD, MPH, University of Illinois-Chicago
Congressman Luis Gutierrez (invited)
Cook Co. Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (invited)
WHAT: Press conference to roll out Dirty Air, Dirty Power, a new Clear the Air report and Web site documenting mortality rates and health damage caused by local and regional power plant pollution.
WHERE: Alivio Medical Center, 966 W. 21st ST. (Morgan and 21st)
2nd Floor Conference Room
WHEN: WEDNESDAY
June 9, 2004
10:00am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 11, 2004
ILLINOIS EPA LAUNCHES CITIZEN E-COMPLAINT FORM ON WEB SITE
Will Speed Investigations of Environmental Concerns; Toll-Free Helpline Also Expands
Continues Governor Blagojevich's Efforts to Streamline Government
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.
Citizens will now be able to report pollution and other environmental concerns electronically, speeding up investigations by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. "Today we launched an Online Electronic Citizens Pollution Complaint Form available on our web page (www.epa.state.il.us) that will result in getting information more quickly to our field offices around the state for followup investigation," announced Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano.
The E-Complaint form will be acknowledged and forwarded to the appropriate regional office the same business day it is received online. Examples of complaints include open burning, dust and particles and industrial emissions, open dumping, hazardous waste, stream/lake pollution, illegal discharges into waterways, issues affecting drinking water and agricultural problems. While many of these complaints are now and likely will continue to be made directly by citizens to their nearest IEPA regional field office, the new E-Complaint system will provide a fast and efficient way to assist citizens and help address environmental problems before they become worse. The complainant's identity will be kept confidential unless they request otherwise.
Director Cipriano also noted that in tandem with the E-Complaints, environmental questions and complaints may also be made by phone through an expanded toll-free Environmental Helpline (1- 888-372-1996).
Examples of topics citizens may seek information about from Agency staff through the Helpline include potential pollutants in the home, such as asbestos, mercury, lead and hazardous waste, questions about local air quality and odors, trash burning, heating oil tanks, electronics recycling, quality of lakes and streams and potential environmental problems when purchasing property.
"These initiatives, along with recently making more information available on our web site on enforcement and status of cleanups, are part of fulfilling Governor Rod Blagojevich's commitment to renew and streamline state government to be more responsive to citizens," said Director Cipriano. "The Internet and technology improves communication and dialogue with the public."
http://www.illinois.gov//PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=29&RecNum=2841
LVEJO Staff, Volunteers, Independent Block Club Members and PUDDJ Participants along with Members of Life Directions attended a Tour of Midwest Generations Crawford Coal Power Plant on 34th & Pulaski over the Holiday Season.
 
LVEJO and residents from 30th & Avers hosted a block meeting to inform
and discuss with neighbors about air pollution from local industries.
Comments pertaining to the Title V permits for all the Midwest
Generation facilities are due by Sept. 28.
This includes the Fisk, Crawford, Waukegan, Will/Romeoville & Joliet etc.
These facilities (& Powerton) had over 4300 exceedences in opacity in 2002 until June 2003.
The public hearing comments are on line now.
Please reference all the plants on your comments.
Please send comments to:
Hearing Officer, Charles Matoesian
1021 N. Grand Ave. East, P.O. Box 19276,
Springfield Il. 62794-9276.
http://www.epa.gov/region5/air/permits/ilonline.htm
On Tuesday, August 12th the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization helped host the IEPA Title V Hearings in Little Village. Over 80 community residents attended to learn about what Title V Permits are, why the IEPA was looking for community input and to give there testimony in regards to the Crawford Coal Burning Power Plant Station getting it's Title V Permit.
 
RESIDENTS OF PILSEN AND LITTLE VILLAGE TO HAVE PUBLIC HEARINGS ON DEADLY POWER PLANT POLLUTION
For years the people of Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods have been sickened and killed by Midwest Generation's Crawford and Fisk power plants. These archaic coal plants emit toxic chemicals, soot, and smoke that result in approximately 41 premature deaths per year, not to mention 2800 asthma attacks and 550 visits to the emergency room according to a 2001 study by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The plants are both up for a Title V air pollution permit, granted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). These permits are designed to apply the rules of the Clean Air Act to the plants. However, these permits are not what they seem.
The current language in the permits require no decrease in Sulfur Dioxide or Particulate Matter from the giant boilers the plants run on. Sulfur Dioxide is the biggest problem of all criterion pollutants emitted by the power plants, according the American Lung Association. Particulate Matter is also extremely dangerous and long-term exposure to it can lead to potentially fatal lung and cardiopulmonary illness for Chicago residents, including diabetics.
The permits institute a series of cap-and-trade programs designed to lower certain types of emissions. However, due to the nature of these programs, the Crawford and Fisk plants will probably be unaffected. The plants are so old, California based Edison International, Midwest Generation's parent company, can reduce pollution for much less at newer power plants elsewhere and use the "pollution credits" built up from that activity to continue present emission levels at Crawford and Fisk.
However, the people of Pilsen and Little Village have an opportunity to try to change these permits to be more comprehensive. The IEPA has decided to have public hearings where residents can voice their concerns about the permits and their provisions. Community organizations in both neighborhoods are organizing around these hearings in order to help get the voices of the people heard.
CRAWFORD AND FISK POWER PLANTS ARE EMITTING HARMFUL SUBSTANCES INTO THE AIR OF PILSEN AND LITTLE VILLAGE!
WHAT DO THE POWER PLANTS EMIT?
Sulfur Dioxide
May result in: Bronchitis, increased Asthma attacks, increased Respiratory Tract Infections, increased cough , difficulty breathing, headaches, nausea, weakens defenses in the respiratory system, increases ozone dangers,
Also: Causes metals to corrode, can damage paint, stone and electrical equipment
Particulates (Soot)
May result in: Heart attacks, Lung Cancer, Stroke, Asthma, Pneumonia, Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis, Lung Disease*, Heart Disease*
Also: Lungs unable to defend against the particles; introduces toxins , heavy metals, lead, arsenic; mortality from above diseases increase between 4 and 8 percent per ten microns per cubic meter
(*Risk primarily from diabetics)
Mercury
May result in: Loss of motor skills, partial loss of senses (taste, touch)
Also: Human made sources of mercury (such as power plants) have increased its presence by a factor of two or three
Nitrogen Oxide
May result in: Smog, a harmful irritant to lungs and respiratory systems especially for asthmatics
Carbon Dioxide
Greenhouse Gas: Linked to global warming, respiratory irritant, asthma trigger
Are YOU or SOMEONE YOU KNOW affected by these chemical that have been linked to coal power plants like CRAWFORD AND FISK?
STOP CRAWFORD AND FISK POWER PLANTS FROM RUINING THE ENVIRONMENT!
SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ON CRAWFORD AND FISK POWER PLANTS:
-
An American Lung Association summary of the Harvard School of Public Health study on Illinois coal power plants said that Sulfur Dioxide is the biggest health problem out of all major pollutants the plant release
-
Release of sulfur makes up a large component of extremely small, dangerous particulate matter (PM and PM 2.5) which is tied to asthma attacks, heart attacks, and lung cancer
-
The Title V permit for Crawford and Fisk require no reduction of Sulfur Dioxide, Particulate matter, or other deadly pollutants such as the toxin Mercury
-
The permit continues "Cap-and-Trade" programs for many pollutants. This allows Midwest Generation to reduce pollution at more modern plants located elsewhere and allows them to keep polluting at older plants like Crawford and Fisk
-
The permit does not eliminate pollutants, only limits them
-
The permit only limits pollutants after they have been made. The problem is, once they've been created, they have to go somewhere. Often that means a landfill where they can seep into the groundwater or pollute in different ways elsewhere
-
The Chicago Reader says the Grand Tower Power Station in downstate Illinois was built around the same time as these plants and switched from coal to natural gas in 2001. Natural gas burns much cleaner than coal and prevents 1000's of tons of pollution from being made in the first place
-
Good Neighbor Dialogues are dialogues between community leaders and the management of a polluting industry in that community to draft an agreement that goes beyond environmental laws. Incorporating ongoing GND's into the permit and having resulting agreements become part of the permit could allow the people of Pilsen and Little Village to address concerns in ways the permit cannot
Dear supporters of the Chicago Clean Power Campaign,
The time has come to act: we are so close! If you want Chicago's coal-fired power plant pollution to be reduced by up to 90% YOU HAVE TO ACT IN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS!!!
(read on for background and a sample letter)
Rumor has it that there MAY (finally) be a public hearing on the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance on June 30 at 11am at City Hall. Details about this hearing will hopefully be forthcoming.
This is a crucial time to help push members of the City Council's Environment Committee to feel the public pressure to actually conduct these hearings!
Here's What You Can Do:
* Please write to and/or call your alderman and inform her/him that you'd like to see the Environment committee of the City Council hold a hearing for the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance. You can also ask them to co-sponsor this bill! Find your alderman here: http://www.ci.chi.il.us/CityCouncil/
* Please write to and/or call the members of the Environment committee. Please see the bottom of this article for who they are and their contact details.
* Please attend the public hearing!!! If you can attend, please confirm with Dorian Breuer and Juan Miguel Turnil (dbreuer@yahoo.com 312 850 4060 and lvejo@igc.org 773 762 6991) as soon as possible to confirm and for more information. These aldermen need to hear the public's views on the pollution from Coal-fired power plants!!
* learn more about it at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/clean_power or contact Dorian Breuer, 312 850 4060, dbreuer@yahoo.com and Juan Miguel Tunril, 773 762 6991, lvejo@igc.org
Background: This ordinance, if enacted, would reduce the toxic emissions from Chicago's 2 coal plants by 90% starting in 2006. In February, 2002 Chicago Ald. Ed Burke for the 14th ward proposed the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance. This legislation has languished for a year without a hearing in Mayor Daley's department of Environment while community, health and environmental groups have been pressing for its passage. If passed, this legislation would make Chicago one of the cleanest cities for coal power generation in the nation. The current emissions affect all Chicagoans: in a comprehensive 2001 study researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that 40 premature deaths occur every year due to the emissions from Chicago's coal plants alone, along with 550 emergency room visits and 2,800 asthma attacks.
During the last election, residents of 2 precincts in Pilsen and Little Village near the plants were asked in a referendum if they would like the Ordinance to pass: over 86% voted in favor!! It is time for the City to listen to the needs of its residents and to clean up Chicago's dirty air.
Sample Letter for Campaign
Subject: Clean Up Our Coal Plants!
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am troubled to learn that the Crawford and Fisk power plants on the city's southwest side have been exempt from state-of-the-art pollution control requirements for nearly 25 years because of a loophole in the federal Clean Air Act.
To protect our health and environment, the city of Chicago should close this loophole. Crawford and Fisk are the largest sources of sulfur dioxide emissions in Chicago, and a recent Harvard University study links their air pollution to 50 premature deaths, 3000 asthma attacks, 500 emergency room visits and 100,000 respiratory symptoms annually.
Generating electricity for our homes and businesses should not shorten lives, trigger asthma attacks or send Chicagoan's to the hospital because we cannot breathe. The technologies for achieving modern emissions rates are available and affordable, and adding them at Crawford and Fisk should create little or no increase in electric rates thanks to deregulation.
For more than a generation, the federal government has exempted these plants from modern emissions limits. We can't "hold our breath" any longer waiting for this to change. The city can and should cleanup Chicago's coal power plants.
Please show your support for Ed Burke's proposed Chicago Clean Power Ordinance by co-sponsoring this ordinance. Another way to show support is to encourage members of the City Council's Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities to hold public hearings so that the views of the public can be known.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
Here are the details of the Chicago City Council's Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities - Please contact them!!
CHAIRMAN: Virginia A. Rugai
19th Ward
Ward Office: 10444 S. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60643
Ward Phone: 773-238-8766
Fax: 773-238-9049
E-Mail: vrugai@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3072
VICE-CHAIRMAN: Shirley A. Coleman
16th Ward
Ward Office: 1249 W. 63rd Street
Chicago, IL 60636
Ward Phone: 773-918-1670
E-Mail: sacoleman@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3069
MEMBERS:
34th Ward
Alderman: Carrie M. Austin
Ward Office: 507 W. 111th St.
Chicago, IL 60628
Ward Phone: 773-928-6961
E-Mail: caustin@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 203
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6820
11th Ward
Alderman: James A. Balcer
Ward Office: 3659 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60609
Ward Phone: 773-254-6677
E-Mail: jbalcer@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 203
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6663
9th Ward
Alderman: Anthony Beale
Ward Office: 34 East 112th Place
Chicago, IL 60628
Ward Phone: 773-785-1100
E-Mail: abeale@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6838
14th Ward
Alderman: Edward M. Burke
Ward Office: 2650 W. 51st Street
Chicago, IL 60632
Ward Phone: 773-471-1414
E-Mail: eburke@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 302
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3380
24th Ward
Alderman: Michael D. Chandler
Ward Office: 4325 W. Roosevelt Rd.
Chicago, IL 60624
Ward Phone: 773-522-2400
E-Mail: mchandler@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 203
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6839
43rd Ward
Alderman: Vi Daley
Ward Office: 735 W. Wrightwood
Chicago, IL 60614
Ward Phone: 773-327-9111
E-Mail: vdaley@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3071
37th Ward
Alderman: Emma Mitts
Ward Office: 5344 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
Ward Phone: 773-745-2894
E-Mail: emitts@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-8019
Donate | Home | Calendar | Campaigns | Funders | History | Links | LVEJO | Newsletter | Photos | Search
Dirty Coal-Fired Power Plant Threatens
to Bring More Pollution to the Chicago Area
The dirty facts
•The Indeck Energy Corporation wants Governor Rod Blagojevich to give them a permit to pollute. Indeck is proposing to build a dirty coal-fired power plant in Elwood,Will County,just 55 miles south of the Chicago Loop. Thousands of tons of new pollution will be added to Chicago ’s already polluted air, jeopardizing the health of millions of families including 500,000 asthmatics.
•Air pollution levels in the Chicago area already violate federal health standards. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on more than 20 days last summer the smog levels were so high that the air was unsafe to breathe.
•Chicago is also the nation ’s asthma capital. With asthma rates soaring 30 to 40 percent above the national average, more Chicagoans die from asthma than in any other U.S. City.
Dirty coal plants are already jeopardizing our health
• Illinois ’existing dirty coal plants are the state ’s largest sources of pollution. A 2002 Harvard study found that the nine existing, dirty coal plants in and around Chicago are responsible for 320 premature deaths and 21,500 asthma attacks, each year.
•These dirty coal-fired power plants are also Illinois ’s largest source of mercury pollution. Mercury has poisoned every lake, river, and stream in Illinois, so much so that there is a statewide advisory against eating fish. Not only does mercury poison our waterways, but studies link mercury to developmental disorders in children.
• Indeck ’s coal plant will add to the pollution from existing coal plants and so means more asthma attacks, more premature deaths, and more contaminated fish.
Indeck ’s dirty coal plant is bad for our economy and bad for our businesses
Increased health-care costs Each year,70,000 Chicago-area residents are rushed to the emergency room with an asthma-related emergency and 19,000 are hospitalized, at a cost of between $5,000 - $10,000 per visit. More air pollution means more hospitalizations, which in turn means higher insurance premiums for those of us fortunate enough to have health insurance and higher taxes for all of us to cover the costs for the uninsured.
Increased business costs: The Chicago area is under a federal timetable to meet stringent federal air quality standards. Indeck’s coal plant proposal to add thousands of tons of new pollution will mean that existing Chicago area businesses (and new businesses wishing to locate here) have to cut their pollution by buying and installing costly pollution controls.
Increased taxes: Indeck wants $50 million in subsidies to build this coal plant and pollute our air. Even if the state were not proposing to cut funding for education and health-care priorities, taxes should not be spent on projects that will hurt our communities.
Indeck ’s coal plant would degrade park and destroy wetlands
Part of Indeck ’s coal plant would be constructed in the buffer zone designed to protect the 20,000-acre Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie – the only prairie of its type in the nation. Indeck also wants to fill and pave over our wetlands.
Wisconsin is doing better, so can Illinois
Don ’t be fooled by Indeck ’s claims of clean technology. Indeck’s dirty coal plant will pollute five-times more than a similar size coal plant proposed in Wisconsin. A power plant fired by natural gas would be 300 times cleaner, and a wind-powered project generates no pollution whatsoever. Compare the emissions of sulfur dioxide (causes acid rain), nitrogen oxide (causes smog), mercury, soot and carbon monoxide (1MW is enough electricity to power 1,000 homes:)
| |
Indeck 600 MW
Dirty Coal |
WI Energy 615 MW
Gassified Coal |
Calpine, WI 523 MW
Natural Gas |
Bloomington, IL
400 MW Wind |
Emissions tons/yr: |
|
|
|
|
Sulfur Dioxide |
3,840 |
691 |
11 |
0 |
Nitrogen Oxides |
2,560 |
1,611 |
169 |
0 |
Mercury (lbs/yr) |
0.10 |
0.03 |
0 |
0 |
Particles (Soot) |
384 |
253 |
276 |
0 |
Carbon Monoxide |
2,816 |
691 |
123 |
0 |
Illinois residents need cleaner power, not more dirty power
-
Illinois has a surplus of electricity, and this surplus comes from the very utilities that jeopardize our health and environment. Official estimates indicate that dirty coal and unsafe nuclear plants produce 20 to 30 percent more electricity than we need.
-
We can reduce our reliance on coal and nuclear power by investing in clean wind and solar energy. The Environmental Law and Policy Center recently reported that for less than a 4% increase in electric bills Illinois could increase its use of renewables by 20%.
-
Powering Illinois with clean renewable energies is already in the works. Our state ’s first wind project is under construction and will produce electricity for thousands of our homes. Not only does wind energy allow Illinois residents to breathe a little easier, but our family farmers reap substantial annual rental payments.
Take Action Today! Say No To Indeck. Say Yes To Clean Air.
-
Call Governor Rod Blagojevich at 217.782.0244 and tell him to deny Indeck ’s permit,to continue investing in clean wind power and oppose state handouts for dirty coal plants.
-
Attend the hearing on Thursday, May 22nd @ 7 p.m. at the Elwood Community Church Hall,101 N. Chicago in Elwood (ten miles south of Joliet) and speak out against Indeck.
-
Sign up for regular updates by sending an email with your name, address and phone number to: lvejo@ igc.org and cleanair@sierraclub.org
Critics dig in on coal plant - Opponents fear pollution from proposed facility
By Karen Mellen - Tribune staff reporter - May 18, 2003
In an attempt to revive Illinois' lagging coal-mining industry, Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to give $50 million in financial incentives to the builders of a coal-fired power plant on the former Joliet Arsenal, one that would burn Illinois coal and create mining jobs.
But environmentalists have come out against the proposed $1 billion facility, arguing that northern Illinois should not build another coal-burning plant because of the soot and pollution it would create. They say the technology proposed for the plant--a circulating, fluidized bed system--is not state of the art and releases too much pollution.
"It's not a smart move to have the state subsidizing that kind of technology that's just going to create a future problem for the state of Illinois," said Brian Urbaszewski of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago.
Indeck Energy Services Inc., based in Buffalo Grove, plans to build the plant to create electricity and sell it on the open market, likely for the industrial park proposed in the former Joliet Arsenal in Elwood. The plant would produce a maximum of 660 megawatts of electricity, which would make it one of the state's larger plants.
To receive financial benefits from the state, the company would burn coal mined in Illinois. The financial incentives include about $25 million in bonds that would be repaid by using sales tax revenue from buying Illinois coal, the governor's office said. Illinois coal has a high sulfur content, which causes more pollution when burned. Most Illinois power plants do not have the technology to burn Illinois coal and still meet federal air pollution standards, which were toughened in 1990. Those plants import coal with less sulfur, usually from the West. As a result, the number of coal-mining jobs in Illinois dropped to just over 4,000, down from about 18,000 workers in 1980, said Taylor Pensoneau, president of the Illinois Coal Association. This project would create about 200 coal-mining jobs in Illinois, according to Blagojevich's office. "In terms of Illinois coal, everything helps," Pensoneau said. "Two hundred jobs, in this day and age, are a sizable number in the Illinois coal industry."
The plant Indeck proposes turns coal into a sludge in which contaminants can be captured as a gas or solid. Dave Kolaz, chief of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's bureau of air, said that a plant using this technology would produce 20 percent of the air pollution that plants built 50 years ago now produce. Most of those older plants do nothing to stop the emission of sulfur dioxide, which can cause acid rain. Some use scrubbers, a solution of water and limestone, to capture the sulfur. Representatives from the EPA also said the proposed plant would fall within federal and state guidelines for emissions in the Chicago area. But Urbaszewski said that the people who would live or work near the power plant would be at a greater risk of health problems. That's because the fine particulate released into the environment from these plants causes respiratory problems.
He cited a Harvard School of Public Health study released in 2001 that concluded that nine coal-fired power plants in northern Illinois are linked yearly to 300 deaths, nearly 14,000 asthma attacks and 2,600emergency room visits. "We have unhealthy air right now, in the Chicago area, from two different kinds of pollution: ozone and fine particulates," Urbaszewski said. "About one-third of the fine particulates in the air of Chicago comes from sulfur, from coal-fired power plants." Other environmentalists said the proposed plant is not the best way to create electricity. Diane Brown, executive director of Illinois Public Interest Research Group, an environmental organization, said the group favors power plants that do not increase air emissions, no matter what the technology. Shift to cleaner fuel. "But we would prefer that instead of looking at reliance on coal in Illinois, a shift to cleaner energy fuel, such as wind and solar," she said.
Currently, coal is the fuel for about half of the electricity produced in Illinois. Because of this reliance on coal, other environmentalists said that if coal is used, the best technology should be implemented, and that is coal gasification. This method turns coal into a gas mixture using oxygen or steam, said Ronald Carty, director of the Illinois Clean Coal Institute of Southern Illinois University.
Depending on the cleanup process used, larger amounts of sulfur and mercury are removed, compared to other techniques, he said. In fact, the EPA agrees that gasification is the best hope for the future of coal-fired plants to limit air pollution. But EPA Director Renee Cipriano said that the technology has not yet proved reliable enough to be implemented commercially and the costs would be too high. Some estimates are that a gasification system would cost two or three times more. Other proposals sought "It's just not feasible at this location," Cipriano said, adding that she would like to see other proposals using the technology.
Jim Thompson, senior vice president of business development for Indeck, would not comment for this story. Coal industry officials, like environmentalists, advocate high-tech ways to change coal into electricity, such as gasification, because of their belief that cleaner techniques are the key to their future.
"It's a cleaner way to use coal, and it doesn't violate any environmental air-quality standard," Pensoneau said of coal gasification. "Money is usually the bottom line of every issue, at some point. And that's part of the issue here."
A public hearing on the proposed plant will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Elwood Community Church Hall, 101 N. Chicago St., Elwood.
CEC receives submission aimed at Ontario power plants
Montreal, 7 May 2003 - The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has received a citizen submission asserting that Canada is failing to effectively enforce the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the federal Fisheries Act against Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) coal-fired power plants.
The attorneys general of the states of New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, along with 48 Canadian and United States nongovernmental organizations and two towns in New York State, filed the submission (SEM-03-001) with the CEC on 1 May 2003.
The submitters assert that emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from OPG's coal-powered facilities pollute the air and water downwind, in eastern Canada and northeastern United States. They assert that Canada is failing to effectively enforce sections 166 and 176 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which, they claim, obligate the Minister of the Environment to take action to address Canadian sources of pollution that he has reason to believe are causing air or water pollution in the United States. They also assert that Canada is failing to effectively enforce section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act against the OPG facilities. Section 36(3) prohibits the deposit of a deleterious substance into water frequented by fish or in any place under any conditions where the substance may enter such water.
The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), any person or nongovernmental organization may submit a claim alleging that a NAFTA partner has failed to effectively enforce its environmental law. Following a review of the submission, the CEC may investigate the matter and pursue a factual record of its findings.
Part of Clean Air Act Is Termed 'Widespread Failure' in Study
- By JOHN J. FIALKA - Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- Calling part of the federal Clean Air Act a "widespread failure," the National Academy of Public Administration said the U.S. should regulate carbon dioxide and force the nation's dirtiest power plants to clean up or shut down within 10 years -- proposals that are at odds with Bush administration stances.
The focus of the report is the so-called New Source Review program, a measure implemented by Congress in 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act. It spared older, coal-fired power plants from having to comply with the law's tougher air-pollution controls unless they expanded or made major changes to their facilities.
The 1977 law, part of a compromise that enabled enactment of tougher pollution controls, has sheltered a substantial portion of the electric-power industry against tighter controls. The report said it has given the older "grandfathered" facilities an unfair competitive advantage over newer facilities.
25 Years Seen as Enough
Lawmakers requested the report from the academy, a nonprofit research institute chartered by Congress to give unbiased advice and that includes public managers, scholars and former cabinet officers.
"We say 25 years of this [exemption] is enough," explained DeWitt John, who sat on the eight-member panel that prepared the academy's report. "My personal view," said Mr. John, who is a professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, "is that to do otherwise would be to reward scofflaws."
The academy's report said that the Environmental Protection Agency and state and local air-pollution administrators tend to give utility owners "unfettered discretion" to decide whether the law applies to them, and that industry has used a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to avoid compliance. The EPA has a continuing effort to clarify and simplify the rules.
Jeffrey R. Holmstead, an assistant administrator of the EPA, called the academy's report "very useful," although it conflicts with two major elements of the Bush administration's approach to pollution control. The administration's proposed Clear Skies Act recommends tighter pollution controls, but would give power-plant owners until at least 2018 to comply.
According to the EPA, only 200 of the nation's 1,100 coal-fired generators have been required to meet New Source Review standards. Mr. Holmstead said the older plants are believed to cause a "significant" part of the nation's most serious pollution problem, caused by the emissions of fine particles of soot from coal-fired plants in the Midwest and Eastern U.S.
Both the academy and the administration's proposal would replace plant-by-plant regulation with a so-called cap-and-trade program that would impose overall cuts on emissions and then allow companies to trade emissions credits. Plants that reduced emissions below required caps would have pollution permits to sell to others, which might have to buy them to qualify older facilities.
More Time for Utilities
Mr. Holmstead said the administration wants the longer period to give utilities more time to make the expensive changeovers without disrupting electricity supplies. It also wants to give utilities more time to explore cleaner coal-burning technologies in order to prevent too much U.S. dependence on generation fired by natural gas, which Mr. Holmstead noted is in increasingly short supply.
New Source Review has led to a morass of enforcement and investigative actions. Currently, according to the EPA, plants representing more than 80% of the electric-utility industry are under either federal or state investigation. On Monday, the Justice Department and EPA announced a $1.2 billion settlement with Virginia Electric Power Co., which was charged with making major modifications to some of its power plants without applying for New Source Review permits. The company, a subsidiary of Dominion Resources Inc. of Richmond, Va., agreed to agreed to spend $1.2 billion between now and 2013 to reduce emissions from eight coal-fired plants in Virginia and West Virginia. It also agreed to pay a $5.3 million civil penalty.
The Bush administration wants utilities and other emitters of so-called greenhouse gases to reduce them voluntarily to help control climate change. The academy report calls for government regulation of one of the gases, carbon dioxide, at the same time it forces older, dirtier power plants to clean up. It would be "significantly more expensive" to require utilities to make the change later, it asserts
Environment News Service - April 5, 2003
Illinois Approves $1 Billion Clean Coal Power Plant
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, April 4, 2003 (ENS) - Illinois will be burning more of its locally mined high sulfur coal, but burning it more cleanly than in the past under a statewide coal revival program that got a billion dollar boost today. Governor Rod Blagojevich announced plans for a $1 billion high tech coal fired power plant to be built in Will County on the grounds of the former Joliet Arsenal.
The state's coal mining industry has suffered in recent decades as stricter federal air standards have forced many power companies to burn coal from western states rather than coal mined in Illinois that has higher sulfur content. Recent advances in clean coal technology allows power companies to burn coal mined in Illinois and meet federal environmental standards.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich: "This project is part of my initiative to promote the use of the state's abundant coal reserves," Blagojevich said. "Construction of this power plant will demonstrate we can burn Illinois coal without harming the environment and deliver new jobs for the mining industry in central and southern Illinois." The new plant will create hundreds of jobs and burn as much as two million tons of Illinois coal per year, the governor said. Indeck-Elwood LLC will construct the 660 megawatt power plant as part of a more than 2,000 acre industrial development in Elwood and incorporate clean-coal technology to reduce emissions.
"The advanced technology to be used at this facility is a great example of the capabilities available to industry today," said Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Renee Cipriano. "We are pleased to see utilization of this modern technology to allow Illinois coal resources to be used without compromising our environment." "Indeck is pleased to be part of the team, which includes the state of Illinois, the BNSF Railroad and Centerpoint Properties, that will build the first clean coal power generating station in Illinois in more than 30 years," said Tom Campone, president and chief operating officer of Indeck-Elwood. The plant, which is slated to begin operation in 2006, will employ at least 80 workers in high paying technical positions and create about 200 coal mining jobs. During construction, the union labor force is expected to peak at more than 1,200 jobs.
To move the project along, Indeck is eligible for about $50 million in financial incentives from the state, including about $25 million in general obligation bonds that would be retired using sales tax revenue paid for by tax revenue from the purchase of Illinois coal. In addition, as a "high-impact business" as defined by the state, Indeck-Elwood can receive investment tax credits for machinery equipment and buildings as well as tax exemptions for building materials. "This project will give a boost to the coal industry and create jobs for Illinois coal miners," said state Representative Dan Reitz, a Democrat from Steeleville.
"Governor Blagojevich is moving ahead on his intent to provide a broader market in the future for Illinois coal," said Taylor Pensoneau, president of the Illinois Coal Association. "We see the Illinois Coal Revival Initiative as our bridge to the future, and the word has certainly gotten out that Illinois is serious about coal," he said.
Of the 24 plants in Illinois that currently burn coal, only three - CILCO's Duck Creek in Canton, Southern Illinois Power Co-op in Marion and City Water, Light & Power Co. in Springfield - burn Illinois coal regularly as a result of clean coal scrubbing technology.
Previous Illinois Governor George Ryan, author of the clean coal program, said last April, "The coal incentive program I signed into law last year sends a clear message to developers that we mean business in Illinois. "We have the tools to compete for a new generation of clean and efficient power plants – facilities that will enhance our state's own energy security and, quite possibly, make us an energy production center for the entire central United States."
Since the Illinois Coal Revival Initiative became law in June 2002, dozens of development prospects have surfaced.
Peabody Energy of St. Louis made the first move announcing that it would build a 1,500 megawatt state of the art coal plant about 50 miles southeast of St. Louis in southwestern Washington County. Midwest Generation, a division of Mission Energy, followed up in November by filing for an air quality permit to build 1,000 megawatts of new coal fired generating at its Collins Station near Morris in northcentral Illinois. Forty million tons of Illinois coal are mined annually and produce about $1 billion in gross revenues for Illinois producers. More than half the electricity in Illinois and the United States is generated by burning coal.
The Illinois experience in clean coal technology goes back to pioneering projects of the 1970s, according to John Mead, director of the Coal Research Center at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Mead told a U.S. House of Representatives energy subcommittee n June 2001 that first generation atmospheric fluidized bed combustion and early gasification for electric power production were constructed or conceptualized for Illinois facilities.
In the 1980s, Mead said, a series of successful circulating fluidized bed combustion projects were supported. Active Illinois partnerships with the U.S. Department of Energy continue with projects such as the Low Emission Boiler System demonstration at Elkhart, Illinois. Southern Illinois University, in cooperation with the Illinois General Assembly and industry, has initiated a unique program to identify and support the application of clean coal technologies, funded with a $25 million gift from the Commonwealth Edison Company.
Technologies developed or tested in research over the past decade, along with new applications of proven clean coal technologies, are selected by the Clean Coal Review Board - a panel of state government, industry, labor and university leaders. The first program solicitation, held in 2000, generated 16 projects and $417 million in potential projects. Mead told the lawmakers that ultralow emission technologies that address all emissions, including carbon dioxide, are in the pipeline. "Such low or zero emission systems may be years away from commercialization, but the knowledge gained from such studies will likely have good transfer to improving today’s state of the art systems," Mead said. "The eventual application of ultraclean systems will hold tremendous value to a nation whose greatest fossil energy resource is coal."
The Coal Research Center is online at: http://www.siu.edu/~coalctr/
CRAIN's CHICAGO BUSINESS
Power generator runs low on steam - Heavy debt, slack demand zap MidwestGen - March 24, 2003 - By Steve Daniels
Utility player: MidwestGen President Georgia Nelson has had skirmishes with labor, environmentalists and ComEd, but vows, "We're here for the long term."
Midwest Generation LLC has fought with environmentalists, its workers and even its primary customer - Commonwealth Edison Co. - since its $4.8-billion purchase of ComEd's coal- and natural gas-fired power plants three years ago. Now, saddled with heavy debt after making a bad bet on the direction of the Midwestern power market, MidwestGen is fighting for its survival.
A subsidiary of Edison Mission Energy, which itself is the unregulated power-generation arm of California utility holding company Edison International, MidwestGen is staring at a possible default on $911 million in bank debt due in December. The situation is serious enough that MidwestGen's auditor, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers LLP, will sign off on financial statements this year only under the qualification that there is "substantial doubt" as to MidwestGen's ability to continue as a going concern, Edison International executives disclosed last month. Another $1.7 billion in bank debt is due in November 2004.
The company must generate cash to pay off its debt even as roughly half the 9,300 mega-watts generated at its 12 plants are suddenly subject to the whims of the open market. ComEd, which had options to purchase that power, decided last year not to exercise them.
Until this year, MidwestGen sold all of its electricity to ComEd under a power-purchase contract negotiated at the time of the plants' sale in late 1999 - accounting for roughly half the power ComEd customers use. But ComEd's need for MidwestGen's electricity has lessened as demand has slipped. While power prices ticked up in the first two months of this year, analysts say it's unlikely that MidwestGen - which had $320 million in cash at the end of 2002 - will have enough cash to pay off its loan in December. That sets the stage for difficult talks with its lenders that probably will result in a refinancing with more onerous terms, or - less likely - a forced sale of some of the plants at prices well below what MidwestGen paid.
In this effort, MidwestGen is largely on its own; Edison International is under no obligation to bail it out if it defaults. Edison International executives have told investors that they would inject capital into MidwestGen only if it was "an investment that was valuable for (the parent's) shareholders."
"These guys face what other independent power producers face," says Michael Polsky, founder of Chicago-based Invenergy LLC, a private-equity firm looking to invest in energy assets and former CEO of power-generation firm SkyGen Energy LLC. "Go back to the banks and try to renegotiate everything - that's all they can do." While acknowledging the challenges, MidwestGen President Georgia Nelson says the company will be able to hold on until the power market improves. "We're here for the long term," she says.
But the company has won few friends in this market. It's skirmished repeatedly with ComEd, over the Chicago utility's fees to provide electricity to power up MidwestGen's plants and ComEd's objections to MidwestGen's providing collateral for financing two years ago that helped its parent company weather the California power crisis. Last year, ComEd stunned MidwestGen by opting not to buy more than 4,500 megawatts of power in 2003 at a time when power prices were plummeting because of excess supply. ComEd has options this summer to forgo another 3,100 megawatts, and John W. Rowe, chairman and CEO of parent Exelon Corp., has said he expects power prices to remain low for the next two years at least. An Exelon spokesman says the company has made no decisions yet on the MidwestGen options. Of ComEd, Ms. Nelson says, "We've had disagreements, but they've been principled disagreements."
More bad blood
The disputes with ComEd pale in comparison to the bad blood between MidwestGen and Local 15 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents about 825 MidwestGen workers. The relationship hasn't improved much in the 18 months since the union agreed to a contract on the company's terms after a disastrous three-month strike, in part over the use of contract workers. The power-market downturn then forced MidwestGen to mothball four units at plants in Romeoville and Downstate Morris, resulting in the layoff of 115 union workers. The distrust is strong enough that the company requires union reps meeting with plant workers to be escorted by company managers. "All I know is, our parking lot is getting smaller, and the (company) contractors' parking lot is getting bigger," says Robert Joyce, president of the Local 15 office.
Tensions are so bad that the union is seeking to overturn a recent Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) decision approving MidwestGen's application to sell power to retail customers such as large industrial facilities. MidwestGen wants the approval so it can provide electricity to its own plants rather than buying it from ComEd, and also sell its excess power directly to big commercial customers. At the union's request, the ICC - which, since it ruled on MidwestGen in December, has one new member and a seat still to be filled - recently agreed to revisit the decision.
MidwestGen also has found itself bickering with environmentalists who hoped that the company's move into this market would lead to stronger pollution controls at the aging coal plants, particularly in Chicago. They've been disappointed. As a result, they back a proposed ordinance in the Chicago City Council that would require MidwestGen to meet modern clean-air requirements at its Fisk and Crawford plants on the South Side. Those plants, built more than 40 years ago, are grandfathered under federal law and are subject to older, less stringent pollution standards.
Awaiting outcome
The city's Department of Environment is still reviewing the proposal, but Mayor Richard Daley has called for stronger pollution controls at the plants. And the department has reached at least one important conclusion: "The region could afford the shutdown of these plants," says David Reynolds, first deputy commissioner, referring to a reduction of generation capacity. That's just what will happen if the bill passes, says Ms. Nelson, who emphasizes the company already has invested more than $200 million in pollution control. "This is not about cleaning things up," she says. "This is about shutting down coal plants." Meanwhile Ms. Nelson says the firm is focusing on operating its plants efficiently and finding new customers. But for real prosperity, she says, "the industry has to recover."
©2003 by Crain Communications Inc.
Exito Newspaper's Article on the Little Village and Pilsen Coal Power Plants:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/exito/noticias/chi-exito-030320-emisiones,0,1593813.story?coll=chi-exitonoticias-hed
Noticias locales - Control de emisiones - Coalición exige monitoreo en Illinois
Por Ana Paus - Published March 20, 2003
La contaminacion ambiental sigue siendo una de las mayores preocupaciones para los vecinos de Pilsen y La Villita, quienes apuntan como principales culpables de la polucion en la zona a las plantas electricas Crawford y Fisk, ambas propiedad de Midway Generation, que a su vez pertenece a la multinacional Edison International.
Es por eso que este mes una coalicion de siete organizaciones presento ante la Agencia Federal de Proteccion Ambiental (USEPA, por sus siglas en ingles), una peticion en la que exigen se tomen medidas para implantar en su totalidad el programa de Permisos Operativos en Illinois.
Estos permisos obligan a monitorear y reportar las emisiones nocivas de estas fabricas, y a informar al publico si la industria cumple con los limites establecidos para que, en caso de no cumplir, enfrenten las pertinentes multas y responsabilidades.
Segun la ley federal, el estado tenia la obligacion de emitir esos permisos de operacion antes del 7 de marzo de 1998 a 733 empresas de Illinois, consideradas las mayores causantes de polucion. No obstante, en febrero del año en curso 272 de esas fabricas todavia carecian de permiso, entre ellas, Crawford y Fisk.
“Dicen que estan a la espera de recibirlo pero, mientras tanto, nadie lleva la cuenta de la contaminacion, y los residentes siguen siendo los mayores perjudicados”, explica Francisco Rios, de la Organizacion de Justicia Ambiental de La Villita.
Por su parte, fuentes de Midwest Generation rechazaron estas acusaciones y aseguraron “haber reducido considerablemente la contaminacion” desde que en 1999 adquirieron las plantas de Illinois. Segun el portavoz Doug McFarlan, mas de 250 millones de dolares se invirtieron en reducir la polucion durante los ultimos tres años. “Mas de 40 millones de dolares se invirtieron especificamente en Fisk y Crawford”, dijo.
Pese a tales cifras parte del problema parece ser precisamente la falta de presupuesto.
“Durante los ultimos ocho años el programa ambiental del estado ha carecido de recursos y de personal para emitir permisos, conducir inspecciones y hacer cumplir responsabilidades”, admite Jonathan Goldman, director ejecutivo del Consejo Ambiental de Illinois.
Mientras tanto, expertos en salud alertan sobre el peligro de esta situacion. “La polucion no regulada aumenta los casos de muerte prematura, cancer, asma y otros problemas respiratorios”, afirmo Brian Urbaszewski, director de programas de Salud Ambiental de la Asociacion Americana de Pulmon en Chicago, otro de los grupos que pidio la intervencion de la USEPA.
“Los vecinos de Pilsen y La Villita conocen muy bien la necesidad de regular las fuentes de contaminacion. Ellos son los que mas cerca viven de las fabricas y los que mayor riesgo de salud corren”, aseguro Rios. De hecho, en un referendum de las pasadas elecciones municipales los votantes del area decidieron, por un 86 por ciento a favor, ordenar la reduccion de las emisiones contaminantes de Crawford y Fisk en un 90 por ciento.
“Estamos tratando de trabajar con el concejal Ricardo Muñoz. El apoyo el proyecto de ley presentado por el concejal Ed Burke, en febrero de 2002, [para reducir los niveles permitidos de emision de humos], y tambien apoyo el referendum, pero no ha hecho nada para que la propuesta de Burke sea aprobada por el Concilio Municipal”, dijo Rios. “Queremos que la comunidad lo presione”. Al cierre de la edicion, Ricardo Muñoz no habia contestado las llamadas de ¡Exito!
This Newstip edited by Curtis Black - Contact: 312-344-7783 | fax 312-344-6404 | curtis@newstips.org
Voters Back Affordable Housing, Coal Plant Cleanup
Newstip Date: 03-02-2003
Voters in four Chicago precincts in Rogers Park, Uptown, and East Garfield Park voted overwhelmingly in support of various referendum initiatives backing affordable housing standards. And in precincts in Pilsen and Little Village near heavily-polluting coal power plants, voters supported a referendum calling on the city to require clean-up by over 86 percent.
More Info:
John Bartlett at Metropolitan Tenants Organization,
773/292-4980 x224
Dorian Breuer at Pilsen/Southwest Side Green Party,
312/315-4950
Groups pressure gov over mercury pollution
July 29, 2004
BY GARY WISBY Environment Reporter Advertisement
Gov. Blagojevich campaigned on a promise to get tough on pollution-spewing, coal-fired power plants, and activists and public officials are pressing him to keep his word. The governor has a deadline. Under a 2001 law passed by the General Assembly, he must report by Sept. 30 on the need for new standards at the plants.
Media events to pressure Blagojevich to propose strict guidelines are being staged this week: Wednesday near the Waukegan power plant, today at the Capitol in Springfield and Friday at the Fisk power plant in Chicago.
The focus is on mercury, which changes to methylmercury in lakes and streams. Humans absorb the toxin by eating fish, so a giant, inflated fish was used as a backdrop at the Waukegan presentation. "Currently these plants employ no mercury pollution controls at all," said Rebecca Stanfield, of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, sponsor of the events. The coal-fired plants in Illinois -- 23 of them, including five in the Chicago area -- are responsible for 40 percent of mercury emissions, "more than any other source," said state Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines).
Current technologies can remove 90 percent of mercury before it enters the environment, and New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts have put their plants on schedule to install the equipment. Stanfield urged Blagojevich to follow suit. Speakers also called for stricter limits on power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These contribute to fine particle pollution -- soot -- which triggers asthma attacks. Peggi Braden, a school nurse in Waukegan, said kids "get a panicky look in their eyes" in the throes of asthma. "It's not a pleasant sight, seeing a child struggling for air."
Also calling for action were Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde, state Representatives Karen May (D-Highland Park) and Kathleen Ryg (D-Vernon Hills), and the Sierra Club.
Environmental group 'fishes' for support
By Dan Moran - STAFF WRITER
WAUKEGAN — The environmental group that has employed such giant inflatable props as a power plant and an SUV was back in Lake County Wednesday, erecting a giant inflatable fish in Bowen Park to draw attention to the campaign against mercury emissions.With the Midwest Generation coal-burning power plant looming to the east, members of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) were joined by Mayor Richard Hyde and regional legislators in calling on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to make good on campaign promises to enact new standards on limiting pollutants from the state's 23 coal plants."We are all here to urge Gov. Blagojevich to protect the public," said Illinois PIRG staff attorney Rebecca Stanfield, who pointed out that "currently these plants employ no pollution controls at all" while emitting an estimated 6,000 pounds of mercury into the air annually.Mercury, which cannot be metabolized or broken down by the body, poses a health risk to pregnant women, nursing mothers and children. It typically enters the bloodstream after ingestion of fish contaminated by airborne mercury settling in bodies of water.Speakers at Wednesday's event pointed to a Sept. 30 deadline for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to submit a report proposing new air standards for the Illinois Pollution Control Board. Hyde was among those predicting that Blagojevich will sign off on whatever the IEPA proposes."I'm sure the governor will live up to his campaign promises," said Hyde, who said he fields frequent complaints about local pollutants "from the fishermen (and) from the people along the bluff who have to get the soot off the their cars."But Hyde said that, while favoring stronger emissions controls, he's unsure what a longer term solution will be to emissions from the Midwest Generation plant.
Three years ago, an Urban Land Institute report suggested that the city seek to convert the plant to a cleaner-burning natural gas facility."We know that gas is much more expensive than coal, so someone's going to have to pay for this," Hyde said. " I think in the long run, the general public will have to pay for it."But according to Midwest Generation spokesman Doug McFarlan, it would be impractical from the start to attempt a conversion from coal to natural gas."I don't think that's a possibility. You really can't flip a switch or retrofit anything ... You're really talking about tearing down and starting over," said McFarlan, adding that no formal talks have taken place on the subject.With the coal-burning apparatus in place, McFarlan said his company will focus on new standards expected to be issued next spring by the federal EPA, adding that Midwest Generation favors "a consistent national standard" over state controls.Midwest Generation has maintained that it meets or exceeds existing EPA standards. In December, company officials confirmed an Illinois PIRG report that the company emitted 310 pounds of mercury in 2001. The company also reported it emitted 257 pounds of mercury in 2002 because less power was generated.But the officials also point out that Midwest Generation has cut down on emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 50 percent and sulphur dioxide by 40 percent since taking over the Waukegan lakefront plant from ComEd in 1999.
"We support emissions controls for mercury," McFarlan said, "but we strongly believe that Illinois should (be) consistent with federal regulations and not break off with its own state regulations."At Wednesday's event, state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Des Plaines, said "the federal government hasn't done anything" regarding mercury emissions. "While Congress and the President protect polluters, we can on the governor to protect Illinois citizens."Jack Darin of the Sierra Club also said state controls are necessary, claiming that the Bush administration's record on emissions controls has been "nothing but rollbacks and backroom deals with polluters."State Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park, said the public also needs to be aware that mercury is contained in certain automotive parts that can become airborne during recycling. She said she hopes to make "Highland Park a mercury-free city, and make people cognizant of mercury (pollution
."As Illinois PIRG prepared to take the inflatable fish campaign to Springfield and Chicago later this week, Hyde said that educating the public on the health impacts of mercury could be an uphill battle."Whether or not we'll ever make the lake 100 percent mercury free, I think people are dreaming," Hyde said. "(Awareness) is on the back burner, because they don't see the immediate danger. You can't just throw figures at people."07/29/04
Yesterday, Dirty Air, Dirty Power - a national study and web site that reveal the human cost of air pollution from older coal fired power plants was released. The analysis, performed by U.S. EPA's own air quality consultants using EPA standard methodology, documents severe health impacts due to pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Results for Metropolitan Chicago & Illinois are cause for concern:
ANNUAL IMPACTS IN: Metro Chicago State of Illinois
Premature Deaths: 855 1,356
Lung Cancer Deaths Alone: 96 156
Asthma Attacks: 23,653 33,986
Asthma ER Visits: 1,454 2,007
Hospital Admissions: 848 1.333
Chronic Bronchitis Cases: 668 974
Non-lethal heart attacks: 1,519 2,361
You can find BOTH local information and the Dirty Air, Dirty Power report at an interactive website: www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower.
On the website you can find these Illinois and Metropolitan Chicago numbers, as well as pollution amounts from individual power plants in Illinois. The report also shows how the Bush Administration's "Clear Skies" proposal prevents fewer deaths, asthma attacks, hospitalizations, etc. than several other alternatives under consideration.
Here is an article on the report from the Chicago Tribune:
Groups blast power plants in new report, on Web site
By Imran Vittachi - Tribune staff reporter - Published June 10, 2004
An alliance of environmentalists and public-health advocates launched a Web site on Wednesday that enables users to pinpoint local power plants and get statistics on their effects on health.
At the same time, Citizen Action Illinois, the Illinois Public Interest Research Group and the American Lung Association of Greater Metropolitan Chicago released a 40-page report, entitled "Dirty Air, Dirty Power." It details the groups' argument that pollution from coal-fired plants contributes to cases of asthma, lung cancer and heart attacks among populations near power plants.
"This is to get the word out about the health impact of the power plants and the pollution that's being spewed from them," said Ryan Canney of Citizen Action Illinois, referring to the Web site.
Both the interactive site and the report were produced by Clear the Air, a Washington-based environmental group. It is working with the three local groups in a national campaign against pollution from coal-burning emissions.
The Web site, www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower, shows, for example, the number of deaths per 100,000 adults caused by power plant pollution based on location.
According to information on the Web site, which was gathered for Clear the Air by consultants for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois power plants in 2002 emitted more than 100 million tons of carbon dioxide and 6,212 pounds of mercury.
The energy industry reacted angrily to the report.
"We aren't sitting on our hands--the electric power industry has cut emissions associated with fine particles by 40 percent under existing law, and we'll reduce this pollution by two-thirds over the next decade," Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Washington-based trade group the Edison Electric Institute, said in a statement.
"We can make significant emissions reductions while maintaining reasonable electric rates, but not if we succumb to mindless scare tactics and adopt the blueprint favored by this report," he said.
June 02, 2004
Groups fired up at EPA over coal
Midwest Generation says plants comply with regulations
(AP) - A coalition of groups on Wednesday announced plans to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly failing to stop pollution from coal-fired power plants in the Chicago area.
The groups say Midwest Generation LLC, which bought the plants from Commonwealth Edison Co. in 1999, has been operating plants that contribute significant amounts of air pollution to the Chicago area in violation of the Clean Air Act.
"We're just not getting protected by the folks that are supposed to be protecting us," said Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club. Doug McFarlan, vice president of public affairs for Midwest Generation, said the environmental groups were simply pushing an anti-coal agenda.
"We comply with all environmental regulations," he said.
The company operates several coal-fired electricity plants in the state, but the ones targeted by the groups are two plants in Chicago, one in Joliet and one in Romeoville.
McFarlan said the company had received no notices of violations at any of its plants, but Nilles said the company was in constant violation of the Clean Air Act at each of its plants.
Attorney Faith Bugel of the Environmental Law and Policy Center said the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency was supposed to issue operating permits to the plants in 1998 but has not done so. She said petitions seeking changes in the proposed permits have been unanswered and the lawsuit asks the EPA to respond to them.
An EPA spokesman said the agency would have no immediate comment.
Under the law, the group is required to give the EPA 60 days' notice of its
intent to sue.
City's air ranks worse than N.Y.'s in particle pollution
April 29, 2004
BY GARY WISBY Environment Reporter
When it comes to particle pollution, Chicago's air is even dirtier than New York's.
The American Lung Association's annual State of the Air report, released Wednesday, takes note of particle pollution -- in addition to ozone -- for the first time.
The Chicago area ranks No. 14 for average annual particle pollution, while the New York region is No. 18.
For daily particle pollution, Chicago is No. 12. MetroNew York doesn't even make the top 25. Cook, Will and DuPage counties failed to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for particle pollution.
As for ozone, DuPage, Will and Kane counties rated an " F," a drop of one grade from last year. Cook and Lake kept their failing grades.
The Chicago area was the third-largest urban region to flunk ozone standards, after Los Angeles and New York.
"Particle pollution is a very scary pollutant," said Brian Urbaszewski of the lung group's Chicago region. " It causes a lot of the same health problems as ozone but is worse for lung disease, heart attack and stroke."
The two biggest sources of particle pollution are coal-fired power plants and diesel engines.
Chicago should pass a pending ordinance cleaning up the old Fisk and Crawford power plants, and Gov. Blagojevich needs to follow through on his campaign promise to issue stricter power plant rules this summer, Urbaszewski said.
"At the federal level, they're rolling back major programs under the Clean Air Act, giving the energy industry free rein to pollute."
New York Times - Op-Ed Columnist: The Mercury Scandal - April 6, 2004 - By PAUL KRUGMAN
If you want a single example that captures why so many people no longer believe in the good intentions of the Bush administration, look at the case of mercury pollution.
Mercury can damage the nervous system, especially in fetuses and infants - which is why the Food and Drug Administration warns pregnant women and nursing mothers against consuming types of fish, like albacore tuna, that often contain high mercury levels. About 8 percent of American women have more mercury in their bloodstreams than the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.
During the 1990's, government regulation greatly reduced mercury emissions from medical and municipal waste incineration, leaving power plants as the main problem. In 2000, the E.P.A. determined that mercury is a hazardous substance as defined by the Clean Air Act, which requires that such substances be strictly controlled. E.P.A. staff estimated that enforcing this requirement would lead to a 90 percent reduction in power-plant mercury emissions by 2008.
A few months ago, however, the Bush administration reversed this determination and proposed a "cap and trade" system for mercury that it claimed would lead to a 70 percent reduction by 2018. Other estimates suggest that the reduction would be smaller, and take longer.
For some pollutants, setting a cap on total emissions, while letting polluters buy and sell emission rights, is a cost-efficient way to reduce pollution. The cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, has been a big success. But the science clearly shows that cap-and-trade is inappropriate for mercury.
Sulfur dioxide is light, and travels long distances: power plants in the Midwest can cause acid rain in Maine. So a cap on total national emissions makes sense. Mercury is heavy: much of it precipitates to the ground near the source. As a result, coal-fired power plants in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan create "hot spots" - chemical Chernobyls - where the risks of mercury poisoning are severe. Under a cap-and-trade system, these plants are likely to purchase pollution rights rather than cut emissions. In other words, the administration proposal would perpetuate mercury pollution where it does the most harm. That probably means thousands of children born with preventable neurological problems.
So how did the original plan get replaced with a plan so obviously wrong on the science?
The answer is that the foxes have been put in charge of the henhouse. The head of the E.P.A.'s Office of Air and Radiation, like most key environmental appointees in the Bush administration, previously made his living representing polluting industries (which, in case you haven't guessed, are huge Republican donors). On mercury, the administration didn't just take industry views into account, it literally let the polluters write the regulations: much of the language of the administration's proposal came directly from lobbyists' memos.
E.P.A. experts normally study regulations before they are issued, but they were bypassed. According to The Los Angeles Times: "E.P.A. staffers say they were told not to undertake the normal scientific and economic studies called for under a standing executive order. . . . E.P.A. veterans say they cannot recall another instance where the agency's technical experts were cut out of developing a major regulatory proposal."
Mercury is just a particularly vivid example of what's going on in environmental protection, and public policy in general. As a devastating article in Sunday's New York Times Magazine documented, the administration's rollback of the Clean Air Act has gone beyond the polluters' wildest dreams.
And the corruption of the policy process - in which political appointees come in with a predetermined agenda, and technical experts who might present information their superiors don't want to hear are muzzled - has infected every area I know anything about, from tax cuts to matters of war and peace.
|
