Major Hearing on Illinois Coal Pollution Draws Residents Calling for Clean Air from All Over the State, Comments from Thousands
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Today, residents from across the state of Illinois came to Springfield to testify for clean air and deliver 8,000 petitions at a hearing held by the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB). The petitions call on IPCB to deny Texas-based energy company Dynegy’s variance request to IPCB for more time to meet Illinois state clean air standards.
Dynegy has a pending purchase of five Ameren Illinois coal-fired power plants in central and southern Illinois. The coal plants involved in the sale are Newton, Coffeen, Duck Creek, Joppa and the E.D. Edwards. The company will pay no cash for the sale, instead taking on $825 million of Ameren’s debt.
“The Illinois Pollution Control Board must put public health over polluter profits and deny Dynegy’s variance request,” said Robin Garlish, Peoria mother and member of the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance. “My family has lived for too long under the plume of dangerous pollution from the Edwards coal plant. Enough is enough.”
Air modeling data submitted on Monday to IPCB shows that the levels of asthma-inducing sulfur dioxide emissions that come from Ameren’s E.D. Edwards, Joppa and Newton coal plants greatly exceed what is safe for residents to breathe in these regions. According to Respiratory Health Association, granting this variance alone could cause 2,000 asthma attacks and 125 premature deaths in Illinois.
“Five more years of pollution from these coal plants will mean a new generation of Illinois kids will grow up with more respiratory sickness under the plumes from coal plant smokestacks,” said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health at Respiratory Health Association. “We can’t sacrifice the public health of millions of families in Illinois for the sake of Dynegy’s speculative gamble. The Board must deny this variance request.”
Dynegy, working locally as the unfunded Illinois Power Holdings subsidiary, has requested a variance from IPCB to have until 2020 to comply with the Illinois State Multi-Pollutant Standard, a law established in 2006. The company claims that complying with Illinois’ common-sense clean air standard will cause the company undue financial hardship. That financial hardship, however, is self-imposed as the Texas energy giant has purposefully established an unfunded subsidiary to operate the plants. Dynegy is hinging the final sale agreement with Ameren on the IPCB’s variance decision.
“Dynegy’s request is inappropriate,” said Andrew Armstrong, staff attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Dynegy is asking the Board to give its undercapitalized offshoot a five-year pass from state law. Instead, the Board should advise Dynegy that to do business in Illinois, you need to comply with Illinois law.”
“Dynegy is taking a significant financial gamble on Ameren’s coal plants, but the risk will ultimately be put on the backs of Illinois communities,” said Kady McFadden, Field Organizer with the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign in Illinois. “Dynegy has laid out no clear plans to comply with vital clean air laws, and the company’s only plan involves running these plants one day at a time. After enduring years of coal pollution and paying with their public health, these Illinois communities deserve the chance to build a community transition beyond coal and coal pollution.”
To view air modeling data submitted by the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law & Policy Center to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, please click here: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/Air_Pollution_Modeling_Joppa_Newton_Edwards.pdf