FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 24^th, 2013

Canton Residents Call on Governor Quinn to Halt Renewal of Strip Mine Permit that Threatens Drinking Water Supply

Illinois Department of Natural Resources is Side-Stepping Public Participation and Ignoring Administrative Decision with Plan to Renew “Denied” Mine Permit

Canton, IL – At a public hearing in Canton on Wednesday night, dozens of residents expressed outrage and frustration that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is moving ahead with plans to process a renewal application for the North Canton strip mine.

In February, Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues (CACEI) and the Illinois Sierra Club celebrated a decision in a state permit review hearing denying the permit for the North Canton mine. They were surprised to learn that instead of requiring the mine to submit a new permit application in light of the decision, IDNR instead would process the application and issue modifications at the time of renewal.

“The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is silencing the people of Canton who have worked tirelessly for the past 6 years to protect Canton Lake from coal mine pollution,” said Brenda Dilts, chair of the Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues. She added, “Our community’s drinking water is at stake.”

Other speakers raised concerns about new information that has come to light since the mining permit was originally issued.

“Our understanding of the Canton Lake watershed has significantly improved since the mine received its original permit in 2008,” explained Dr. Cindy Skrukrud, Clean Water Advocate with the Illinois Chapter Sierra Club. She added, “The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency recently released a report which demonstrated that several of the streams that the mine would destroy are a key conduit for replenishing Canton Lake’s supply of drinking water.” {Continue Reading »}

Dynegy's Baldwin Energy Station in Randolph County, IL. Credit: John Blair, Valley Watch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 22, 2013

After 30 Years of Inaction, EPA Finally Proposes Plans for Power Plant Water Pollution

Includes options protecting waters from toxic pollution as well as weaker standards that maintain the status quo

Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a number of regulatory options late last Friday night, known as steam electric effluent limitation guidelines for power plants, two of which will finally clean up water pollution from hundreds of power plants.

Power plant water discharges are filled with toxic pollution such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium – heavy metals that can cause neurological and developmental damage, cause harm in utero, damage internal organs and cause cancer. Power plants are the biggest sources of water pollution in the country, yet the EPA has not reviewed regulations for this industry in more than 30 years. To address this unacceptable delay, environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2010 to force the EPA to take action and regulate this dirty industry.

The following statement is from Appalachian Voices, Clean Water Action, Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Waterkeeper Alliance on today’s proposal:

“After 30 years of inaction, the EPA has finally offered a plan that utilizes affordable, available pollution controls to clean up toxic power plant waste water. We need strong protections that limit the amount of mercury, lead, arsenic, chromium, and other heavy metals that power plants are dumping into the rivers, lakes, and streams where we fish, boat, swim, and drink. The technology to clean up power plant water discharges exists, and in many cases is already being used. While the EPA has presented a menu of options, there are two options (Options 4 and 5) that address all of the contaminated wastewaters of concern across the industry. We are heartened to see that the EPA has identified these options as both achievable and affordable, and we urge the agency to settle on a final choice that will keep America’s waters safe and clean as the Clean Water Act requires.

“In addition to the protective alternatives identified by the agency, the EPA also included many weaker options that would allow power plants to continue to dump poisons unabated from unlined pits. Some of these options also create sweeping exemptions.

“Toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants makes people sick. Those who live in the communities around these plants have had all kinds of concerns about the pollution – everything from reduced property values to extremely rare forms of cancer. We applaud the EPA for taking this next step to address the problem, and we will keep fighting to ensure the EPA chooses the strongest regulation to protect our health and our water.”

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On April 15th and 16th in Chicago, Illinois, the America’s WETLAND Foundation – a non-profit working with industry and other NGO’s to restore wetlands on the Gulf Coast – will hold a conference with Governor Quinn on maintaining waterway commerce on the Mississippi River.

The Chicago location makes this event an ideal occasion for Governor Quinn and the state of Illinois to put forth a bold vision for the future of Chicago’s waterways. It is not in Illinois’ long term interests, either economic or environmental, to defer to a few commercial operators whose business model is one of taxpayer-funded river degradation.

Army Corps data has shown that commodity shipments through the Chicago Area Waterway System have declined precipitously in the preceding decades, with an approximately 45% drop in tonnage from 1994-2009. This is a timeframe that includes periods of significant growth for the national economy, and yet the trend is steadily downward.

There is no reason to allow the barge industry to hold Illinois hostage to a dying economic model. Chicago is one of the world’s great cities, and yet its rivers have been neglected, marked by a lack of public access and a legacy of pollution, as barges continuously churn up toxic sediments accumulated in the bottom of canals. Illinois need not go down with the ship, however. The state would be wise to transition to a green economy that showcases water as a community asset — making it publicly accessible, cleaning it up, and dealing with the invasive species problem.

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Vote is a stunning victory for local residents, farmers, and clean water advocates

Homer, IL – After nearly one year of deliberation, resident organizing, and public meetings, the Homer Village Board voted to reject a contract to provide treated water and sewer services to Sunrise Coal LLC’s proposed Bulldog coal mine.

Residents seeking to protect themselves and their homes from wasteful and polluting coal mining activities banded together and pressured their local government to defend the area’s most valuable resources, namely water and farmland. The board ultimately heard the concerns of their constituents and voted accordingly.

Charles Goodall, seventh generation Vermilion County farmer from Sidell commended the result, saying, “Perhaps the events since 2010—information gathering, action by farmers to protect the land they love, the growing awareness by Homer residents that they must speak out to protect their village and quality of life, and finally the vote last night—constitute, in a rough but adequate way, the definition of democracy.”

The vote is a significant defeat to the expansion of coal in Illinois, and is emblematic of a broader sea change in Midwestern communities—valuing water and the long-term health of land over dirty energy which pollutes and threatens human health at every stage of its production, including extraction, burning, and disposal.

Sue Smith, longtime resident of rural Homer and an avid advocate of the Salt Fork of the Vermilion River, saw the vote as an indication of a cleaner, better future.

“It is my hope that this effort, tied with others throughout the state, is a turning point in Illinois’ relationship with coal,” said Smith. “By working together to inform ourselves, followed by dialogues with local citizens and government representatives about the broader issues surrounding coal, we have been able to get past the short-term enticements to see the destructive, long-term impacts of coal mining and see our communities with renewed appreciation and value.”

Smith thanked and credited the village board for their commitment to the democratic process.

“I am deeply grateful to the Homer village board for all their time and effort over the past months as they listened to the issues, educated themselves, and did their best to thoroughly review the pros and cons before they cast their vote on a contract to sell potable water and sewer to Sunrise Coal. Their ‘no’ vote is a step toward the community values we have and desire to protect including clean and plentiful water for our local residents, our community neighbors, and for the Salt Fork River,” said Smith, also a long-time member of Prairie Rivers Network, a non profit clean water organization which has worked to organize and inform residents for the protection of local water supplies.

Jonathan Ashbrook, Homer resident and member of Stand Up to Coal, indicated that, while the process might be ongoing, residents would maintain a unified front against the coal mine.

“Clearly, a majority of the Homer Village Board members understood that this vote was not just about selling water,” said Ashbrook. “This vote is a key step in preventing Sunrise Coal from bringing an unwanted coal mine to our community.”

Traci Barkley of Prairie Rivers Network noted that Sunrise Coal may look elsewhere for water to take and use in its mining operation. “Nevertheless, we can be sure that, wherever Sunrise might go, local residents will be ready to protect their resources and Prairie Rivers Network will be there to help.”

Contact:

• Traci Barkley, Prairie Rivers Network, tbarkley@prairierivers.org, (217) 344-2371
• Sue Smith, farmer and resident, Salt Fork landowner, suzanne56smith@gmail.com, (217) 896-2698
• Charles Goodall, farmer and resident, charlesgoodall@gmail.com, (217) 474-9285
• Jonathan Ashbrook, Homer resident, Stand Up to Coal, jonashbrook@gmail.com

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Press Coverage

• The News Gazette (PDF)
• Illinois Public Media (WILL AM 580) (PDF)

Coal ash landfill, water pollution, and nuisance dust top list of concerns

Kathy Andria, member of Illinois Sierra Club and Prairie Rivers Network

Marissa, Il.  – At an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency public hearing in Marissa on Thursday, local residents and environmental advocates called on the Agency to deny the permit to discharge water pollution for the Prairie State coal fired power plant in Washington County.

Nearly 50 local residents packed into the Marissa Township building to learn about the draft water permit, and voice their concerns. Several neighbors of the plant testified that pollution from the plant was already impacting them.

“I disagree with Prairie State that the plant is having no effect on surrounding properties,” said Ramona Vonderhaar, who lives downstream of the power plant. “The release of additional water into area streams from the plant has already led to blockages and flooding on our property, and the dust and the noise have been serious issues as well.”

Several commenters worried that reusing runoff from the adjacent Lively Grove mine in the cooling towers would worsen the mercury levels being sent downstream.

Cindy Skrukrud, Clean Water Advocate with the Illinois Sierra Club questioned whether any increases in mercury runoff would appear in the monitoring reports.

“With respect to mercury, the permit only requires monitoring two times a year, which seems awfully infrequent to me,” Skrukrud said.

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Failed to Comply with Legal Requirements in Permit Review Process

Springfield, IL – On December 12th, the Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, and Openlands filed a complaint in Circuit Court in Springfield, Illinois demanding judicial review of a massive open pit silica sand mining permit granted to Mississippi Sand, LLC by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Office of Mines and Minerals. The complaint alleges that IDNR failed to protect Starved Rock State Park—one of the most beautiful and popular state parks in Illinois—when it approved an 80-acre open pit mine to harvest and process silica sand for use in the hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) natural gas extraction process. The permit clears the way for Mississippi Sand, LLC to start blasting the sand, mining it to about 80 feet over the span of 10 years, leaving a large reclamation lake on the site.

About the Complaint

The 24-page complaint alleges that the Office of Mines and Minerals failed to follow state law—as well as its own guidelines—in reviewing the permit for Mississippi Sand, LLC’s permit. Mississippi Sand provided incomplete and inaccurate information in its mining permit application to the Office of Mines and Minerals. The Office of Mines and Minerals approved its reclamation plan and map, even though Mississippi Sand couldn’t follow certain parts of it within the approved mining area. The Office of Mines and Minerals didn’t fully consider 13 factors that address natural resource impacts, including the short and long term impact of the proposed mining on vegetation, wildlife, fish, land use, land values, local tax base, the economy of the region and the State, employment opportunities, air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, noise pollution, and drainage, as required by the Surface Mined Land Conservation and Reclamation Act and its regulations. The Office of Realty and Environmental Planning didn’t perform a proper natural areas consultation under the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act. As a result the Office of Mines and Minerals made an arbitrary and capricious decision by issuing the permit. For this reason, Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, and Openlands are asking the Sangamon County Court to void the mining permit.

Concerned citizens protest the proposed mine earlier this year

About the Potential Effects of the Mine

The operation would erode the natural value of the park for both people and wildlife, as well as tarnish a major driver of the local economy. The mine will pump up to five million gallons a day of water from its operation and stormwater into Horseshoe Creek, which runs through Starved Rock State Park. Introducing that much water will likely cause damage to Horseshoe Creek and destroy its low-flow ecosystem.

Despite their concerns, local residents were not allowed an opportunity to speak formally with the Office of Mines and Minerals. In not considering the opinions and impacts to local citizens, the Office of Mines and Minerals neglected to consider the full, long-term impacts for this mine with respect to how it will impact adjacent landowners and local businesses that depend on the health and natural beauty of the area.

“The granting of this permit highlights the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ inherently conflicting roles of promoting conservation and permitting natural resource extraction,” said Elliot Brinkman, Habitat Conservation Specialist with Prairie Rivers Network. “Until these roles are reconciled, we can expect to see IDNR’s Office of Mines and Minerals continue to allow risky mining projects that jeopardize the special places and resources the Department holds in public trust.”

“If the permitting process followed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources can fail at Starved Rock State Park, our premier state park, it can fail anywhere,” said Openlands president Jerry Adelmann. “IDNR has long been, and will continue to be, a valued partner of Openlands and many other conservation organizations in Illinois. However, in granting this permit, the Office of Mines and Minerals did not adhere to procedures required by state law, and this forced us to stand up for what we believe through this action.”

“Starved Rock is one of the crown jewels of Illinois’ state park system, and we count on IDNR to protect it for future generations,” said Jack Darin, Director of Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter. “It is not only a very special place to people from all over Illinois, but an important economic asset for Illinois River valley communities.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Mark Templeton and students of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School, Albert Ettinger (Chicago), and Eric Schwing (Springfield).

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CONTACT:
Cindy Skrukrud, Sierra Club Illinois Chapter: (312) 251-1680 x110, 815-353-5123 (cell)
Elliot Brinkman, Prairie Rivers Network: (217) 344 – 2371 x 202
Jerry Adelmann, Openlands: (312) 863-6260

Press Coverage (updated on February 7, 2013)

Read all about it in the Chicago Tribune here (PDF) and here (PDF), State Journal Register (Springfield) (PDF), Quad City Times (no link available), Bloomberg Businessweek (PDF), Rockford Register Star (PDF), WREX (Rockford, IL) (PDF), Illinois Valley News Tribune (no link available),  Peoria Journal Star (PDF), Fox 32 Chicago (no link available), Chicago City & Press (PDF), SaukValley.com (PDF), and The Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) (PDF), The Republic (Columbus, IN) (PDF), and The Morris Daily Herald (Grundy County) (PDF).