In December 2010, Prairie Rivers Network convened representatives from several citizen-led groups who are working to protect their land, water and communities from the ravages of coal mining, and invited legal and scientific experts to strategize as part of a two-day “coal summit.”
On the first day, environmental advocates and citizens developed strategies to improve the effectiveness of a “beyond coal” movement through shared goals and collaboration. On the second day, lawyers and organizational advocates focused on legal strategies to improve how regulators carry out and enforce the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
As a result of the first Illinois coal summit, The Heartland Coalfield Alliance was born. The Alliance’s 22 (and growing!) members share a vision to “make a just transition from a coal economy to a clean energy and sustainable economy in America’s Heartland.” In support of the vision, the Alliance has stated goals to: {Continue Reading »}
Prairie Rivers Network provides technical support to local citizen groups who are working to protect clean water and land. One of these groups, Stand Up to Coal, organized a busload of citizens to attend yesterday’s Vermilion County Board meeting. They asked the board to adopt a resolution to oppose coal mining that would compromise the county’s agricultural resource base. Vermilion County does not have any zoning regulations to prevent coal mining, but Traci Barkley, Water Resources Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network, pointed out that the board’s existing authority under state statutes already empowers them to protect the county’s land, water and community health.
Read Stand Up to Coal’s press release, and more about this meeting and the coal mining concerns in these articles:
Danville Commercial-News on March 9, 2011
News-Gazette on March 8, 2011
Illinois Public Media on March 7, 2011
News-Gazette on March 5, 2011
Visit our coal pollution page and our coal news page to learn more about how Prairie Rivers Network is working to prevent coal pollution.
The Issue
- Surface coal mine where coal ash will be buried in Wabash County.
The coal mining industry in Illinois pollutes water and damages our farmland, forests and natural watercourses. Impacts do not end with the land; our rural heritage is also being destroyed. Many families decide simply to locate elsewhere, causing the depopulation of rural communities.
In addition, coal ash disposal sites leach toxic chemicals to groundwater, where pollution can spread and pollute drinking water supplies. They are also prone to collapse, as happened near Kingston, Tennessee in 2008. Even the “cleanest” coal-burning electricity generates waste that can pose a threat to our drinking water. The state’s regulatory agencies have not held the coal industry accountable to the same standards as they do other industrial polluters, and the byzantine regulatory process precludes meaningful involvement by affected citizens. {Continue Reading »}
Traci Barkley, water resources scientist with Prairie Rivers Network, was recently quoted in an article on coal ash regulation on The Southern.com. She states that:
the issue of coal ash regulation has been flying under the radar for a number of years and it’s time a uniform standard of regulations are set…
Congratulations to the Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues on helping community members learn how to test water quality on their land. The Peoria Journal Star highlighted this seminar, which was a response to the concern over a proposed strip coal mine northeast of the city.
Conducting the seminar was Dr. Cindy Skrukrud, clean water advocate with the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter, and Traci Barkley and Brian Perbix of Prairie Rivers Network.
An excerpt from Prairie Rivers Network’s official letter to the USEPA regarding the proposed coal ash rule
On November 19th, 2010, Prairie Rivers Network submitted comments to the USEPA on their proposed regulation of coal ash. Illinois leads the nation in the number of coal ash contamination sites due to improper disposal, and the new rules are a long-awaited step toward reigning in this underregulated toxic waste.
With a coalition of partners, Prairie Rivers Network sent the EPA a strong message that citizens want to be protected from coal ash waste. The message was clear: Regulate coal ash with strong federally enforceable safeguards for public and environmental health. Read the full letter submitted here.
Here are a few choice excerpts taken from interviews with local residents that were submitted with the letter:
“A gentleman living in Douglas County near a site where fly ash is being used to ‘reclaim’ an abandoned mine impoundment has reported coal ash contamination of air and water to the Illinois EPA several times with no response. He has witnessed coal ash clouds so thick cars have had to stop on the road. A recent visit to the site for stream sampling revealed that there had been a recent mussel kill in the stream just ½ mile downstream of the dump; every fingernail clam seen was open and dead. Fly ash coated the surface of the stream and banks. The long-term “reclamation” plan is to fill the impoundment with 500,000 tons of ash and then cover with 2-4 feet of ‘non-acid producing cover material.’ As of March 2010, the impoundment was 70% full. Several households are downgradient of the UNLINED coal ash dump site and draw their water from wells finished in the sand and gravel lenses between ten to forty feet in depth. Many of these residents are experiencing various health problems and are beginning to wonder if they might have polluted drinking water.”
“In the heart of coal mining country in Randolph County, at Peabody’s Gateway Coulterville Mine… Leonard and Jeannette are farmers—they worry about the leaking gob and ash pile that’s seeping into one of their cattle pastures—they’ve had to move the cattle off the land. Mike is also a farmer—he’s concerned about how high the gob and ash pile has gotten and wants to know when it will be covered—he’s also concerned about his well water. An elderly couple had to move from their home because their water well was contaminated.”
“An elderly woman living near the Ameren Hutsonville Power Station in the southeastern part of Illinois signed away not only her groundwater rights, but also the future rights for anyone wanting to purchase her home and farm in years to come. The price? ONE DOLLAR, because this woman didn’t know she had an option. This was due to the fact that Ameren became aware that one of their coal ash impoundments had been leaking for years and had contaminated groundwater under her property. Their solution was to buy the groundwater rights to prevent future legal problems and then apply for a permit to pump the groundwater to keep it from moving further offsite (otherwise known as a groundwater management zone). But the pumped groundwater needs to go somewhere too and so the next step of the plan is to pipe the pumped contaminated groundwater to the Wabash River for discharge. The folks drinking water from the nearby Wabash River need to know EPA will call for closure requirements at these contaminated sites past what our Illinois EPA thinks is necessary for cleanup- pumping and dumping- from the ground to the river.”
These are only a few of the many stories told to us by coalfield residents. And as you can see, the coal ash issue is more than a clean water issue. It is an issue of justice. That is why Prairie Rivers Network and partners will continue to shine a light on these, frankly, despicable actions by the coal and power industries. That is why we will continue to push the EPA to address the problem that the state has ignored for too long.
We will continue to keep you informed about the progress of these very important rules, and let you know how you can help. For more information on other actions Prairie Rivers Network has taken regarding the coal ash rules, please see our links to letters below.
