CHICAGO –(ENEWSPF)—October 2, 2015. Yesterday, the Illinois Pollution Control Board approved a flawed plan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to reduce air pollution in the Peoria and Lemont areas, leaving residents still vulnerable to pollution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has designated the air in parts of Cook, Will, Tazewell and Peoria Counties unsafe to breathe due to high levels of sulfur dioxide pollution. The largest sources of sulfur dioxide pollution impacting these “non-attainment areas” are NRG Energy’s Will County and Powerton coal plants as well as Dynegy Energy’s E.D. Edwards coal plant.
IEPA’s plan exempts NRG from installing sulfur dioxide controls at the Will County plant as required under state law and also establishes a lenient monthly averaging limit for pollution from NRG’s Powerton plant in Pekin, Illinois. The plan will now be heard before General Assembly members on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) and finally Region 5 of the U.S. EPA.
In response, Christine Nannicelli, Campaign Representative with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign released the following statement:
“For decades the residents in the Will County and Peoria areas have been overburdened by air pollution, much of which comes from the Will County, E.D. Edwards, and Powerton coal plants. The state plan put forward by the IEPA and approved by the Pollution Control Board fails to adequately protect families living next to these huge sources of dangerous pollution. We join the hundreds of residents in the Will County and Peoria areas to call on members of JCAR and the U.S. EPA to send this plan back to be strengthened.”
In response, Ellen Rendulich from Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE) released the following statement:
“Today’s ruling by the Pollution Control Board is incredibly disappointing and leaves our family members who live next to the Will County plant and suffer from respiratory illnesses out to dry. NRG Energy’s attempt to use this rulemaking to skirt its obligations to install pollution controls under state law is not the action of the responsible, forward-looking company that we had hoped it would be. Members of the JCAR and U.S. EPA must step up to be our last line of defense and strengthen this rule.”
In response, Tracy Fox from the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance released the following statement:
“The plan that was approved today fails to give thousands of Central Illinois residents the necessary protection we need from Dynegy’s and NRG’s coal pollution that has choked our community for years. Tazewell and Peoria Counties have been sacrifice zones for too long and we call on members of JCAR and the U.S. EPA to ensure the final plan delivers the necessary protections for those of us who live right in the shadows of these polluters.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
Source: www.sierraclub.org
