FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

5.10.2012

Stakeholders and Residents Invited to Public Meeting May 23rd, 7:00 pm at Homer Lake’s Salt Fork Center to Discuss Concerns

Homer, IL – Representatives of Champaign and Vermilion county residents, including stakeholders along the Salt Fork of the Vermilion River, held a press conference today to highlight questions that have been raised in response to media reports that the Village of Homer is negotiating a deal with an out of state coal company to provide water for a proposed coal mine.

Questions have been swirling since media reports surfaced last month suggesting that Sunrise Coal of Terre Haute, Indiana is seeking a deal to purchase water for use in coal processing from the Village of Homer – including water from its drinking water wells near Ogden, or  from the Salt Fork River.

“The Salt Fork is a beautiful natural resource in the backyard of our community.  It is a rich and diverse sanctuary for wildlife,” explained Sue Smith, local farmer and Salt Fork resident. “Our family has grown up along this river system for generations, appreciating and enjoying its natural beauty.  We canoe, kayak, hunt, fish, and bird watch in and along its banks from the Saline Branch at Crystal Lake Park in Urbana to the Vermilion River in Danville.”

Speakers also raised concerns about the mine’s proposal to discharge mine wastewater into Olive Branch, which is a tributary of the Salt Fork River.  This has the potential for adding sediments and pollutants such as heavy metals and salts into waters now used for drinking water supplies, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation and livestock watering.

“In the last three years, one-third of Illinois coal mines have been out of compliance with their water discharge permit for over one year or more, so there is serious concern that if this coal mine is approved, the Olive Branch and Salt Fork will bear the burden of increased coal mine pollutants, including chlorides and sulfates as well as heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium”, explained Traci Barkley, Water Resource Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network. Prairie Rivers Network is a statewide nonprofit that advocates for the protection of Illinois’ rivers and streams.

“We must be able to protect our communities and our resource base.  We need transparency based on timely and accurate information from the officials we’ve chosen to serve us and from companies that want to do business here,” said Charles Goodall, a Vermilion County farmer and landowner. “We must put behind us the days when we are ambushed by mining companies.”

To address these concerns, the speakers announced a that public informational meeting hosted by Prairie Rivers Network will be held on Wednesday, May 23^rd, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Salt Fork Center at Homer Lake.

“We urge the village leadership as well as all our local stakeholders and decision makers  to seek full disclosure of the risks, and seek guarantees to maintain and enhance the quality of our lives in our community,” said Peter Kuchinke, a Salt Fork landowner and resident.

Local residents, farmers, landowners,  anglers, paddlers are invited to discuss concerns they have about the implications these proposals may have on drinking water availability, as well as the lasting ecological health of the Salt Fork River. The goal is to have an open and transparent discussion, voice shared concerns, and obtain answers to questions to protect the Salt Fork River, as well as a sustainable future for our rural Champaign and Vermilion County communities.

5.3.2012

For Immediate Release

Statewide Alliance Calls for End to Subsidies and Misinformation

Springfield – Supporters of the Heartland Coalfield Alliance, a statewide coalition of community and environmental organizations, held a rally outside the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) today, calling on the Department to stop what the group calls a waste of taxpayer funds and a publicly financed marketing campaign for the coal industry that targets children.

The DCEO currently produces and distributes a school curriculum for elementary and high school students entitled “From the Coal Mines to the Power Lines,” with the expressed purpose of providing students with a “sound and meaningful understanding of coal in Illinois.” Opponents of the program point out that the curriculum makes little mention of coal’s liabilities, of the environmental damage caused by its mining, burning or waste disposal, nor of its documented effects on public health.

“In hundreds of pages, DCEO’s curriculum fails to mention coal’s devastating impacts on clean water in Illinois, including massive habitat destruction from coal mines, harmful pollution in mine wastewater, and leaking coal ash dumps at power plants that is polluting rivers, streams and groundwater across the state ” said Brian Perbix, Grassroots Organizer with Prairie Rivers Network. “Illinois’ communities have borne the burden of coal pollution for far too long – our kids deserve to hear the truth.” {Continue Reading »}

Coal Ash Dump in Joliet, IL

Today Prairie Rivers Network joined with national partners, Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, Physicians for Social Responsibility and other state-based environmental protection organizations in filing a lawsuit to finalize national standards for coal ash disposal.

This is critical for Illinois because while our state generates 4.4 million tons of coal ash every year, and imports coal ash for disposal from at least 6 states, this harmful waste product is handled according to outdated and ineffective state rules that were written over three decades ago. We are long overdue for an update, as evidenced by the fact that groundwater contamination from coal ash pollution has been found at every site investigated in Illinois – that’s 22 out of the 24 coal plants in the state. Below is a joint press release issued with our partners describing why now is the time for the Environmental Protection Agency to finalize its decision on coal ash. {Continue Reading »}

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2012

Mississippi River Groups Hit EPA with Dual Legal Actions on Pollution that Fuels Gulf Dead Zone 

(New Orleans, LA)— Today environmental groups challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) refusal to address a critical pollution problem it has acknowledged for decades. The two legal actions filed today seek action from the agency on nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, which stimulates excessive growth of algae, kick-starting a biological process that severely depletes oxygen levels in aquatic ecosystems and chokes marine life. An enormous example of this problem is the “Dead Zone” that forms in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer. In addition, toxic algae blooms result in fish kills, the death of livestock and pets, and damage to drinking water supplies. Addressing Dead Zone pollution is thus necessary to restore health to the Gulf of Mexico and upstream waters of the Mississippi River Basin.

“The ecology and economy of the Gulf of Mexico have paid the price for EPA’s endless dithering about Dead Zone pollution,” said Matt Rota, Director of Science and Water Policy with the non-profit Gulf Restoration Network. “The most meaningful action the EPA can take is to set limits on the amount of these pollutants allowed in theMississippi River watershed so that the fish and the fisheries can recover.”

Members of the Mississippi River Collaborative, represented by the Natural Resources Defense Council, are challenging EPA’s denial of a 2008 petition to the agency asking EPA to establish quantifiable standards and clean up plans for Dead Zone pollution. Separately, several conservation groups are seeking to compel EPA to finally respond to an even older petition – a 2007 request that EPA modernize its decades-old pollution standards for sewage treatment plants and include the Dead Zone pollutants nitrogen and phosphorus in those standards.

“Decisive EPA action on Dead Zone pollutants is a decade overdue,” said Glynnis Collins, Executive Director of Illinois-based Prairie Rivers Network. “Illinois is the biggest contributor of pollution that creates this yearly crisis. With little action coming from the state, we clearly need an external push to be a more responsible neighbor.” {Continue Reading »}

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED: January 31, 2012

River, Lake Advocates Praise New Path Toward Better Flood Control, Cleaner Water, and Keeping Asian Carp Out of Great Lakes

A highly-anticipated report released today clearly demonstrates that it is possible to separate the artificial connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins and prevent the transfer of invasive species through the Chicago river system.

The study, Restoring the Natural Divide, offers real alternatives to simply closing the locks between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Authored by the Great Lakes Commission and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, representing governors and top officials from Great Lakes states, cities, and provinces, the report re-envisions the Chicago River as a system which not only prevents the transfer of aquatic invaders such as Asian carp, but also better serves its functions of moving people and goods and managing stormwater, while improving water quality.

Restoring the Natural Divide offers detailed analysis on three possible separation scenarios and includes a wealth of data on the integration of each scenario with the region’s water infrastructure, as well as an outline and timetable for implementation.

The study was prompted by the urgent need to find a solution to the the ongoing problem of invasive species, including Asian carp. Strong evidence suggests that the threat of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes is imminent and their potential to wreak ecological and economic havoc is real.

While Asian carp have been the public face of invasive species, they are among 39 species deemed “high risk” by the Army Corps of Engineers based on a propensity to invade and to inflict significant damage to new habitat.

Local and Federal Governments currently spend upwards of $200 million per year to control invasive species in the Great Lakes. Ending the continuing threat of transfer of these aquatic invaders through the Chicago River system will be essential to the region’s long-term economic well-being, and would complement plans for river restoration, increasing the value of Chicago’s second waterfront. {Continue Reading »}

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED: January 18, 2012

Contacts:

Sandra Diaz, Appalachian Voices
Diana Dascalu-Joffe, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Jared Saylor, Earthjustice
Eric Schaeffer, Environmental Integrity Project
Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper
Mary Love, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Anne Hedges, Montana Environmental Information Center
Barb Gottlieb, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Traci Barkley, Prairie Rivers Network
Sean Sarah, Sierra Club
Aaron Sarver, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Groups head to court to force issuance of important national safeguards

Washington, D.C. – Environmental and public health groups announced their intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court to force the release of long awaited public health safeguards against toxic coal ash. The EPA has delayed the first-ever federal protections for coal ash for nearly two years despite more evidence of leaking ponds, poisoned groundwater supplies and threats to public health.

Earthjustice, on behalf of Appalachian Voices (NC), Chesapeake Climate Action Network (MD), Environmental Integrity Project, French Broad Riverkeeper (NC), Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KY), Montana Environmental Information center (MT), Physicians for Social Responsibility, Prairie Rivers Network (IL), Sierra Club and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (TN), sent the EPA a notice of intent to sue the agency under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The law requires the EPA to ensure that safeguards are regularly updated to address threats posed by wastes. However, the EPA has never undertaken any action to ensure safeguards address the known threats posed by coal ash, a toxic mix of arsenic, lead, hexavalent chromium, mercury, selenium, cadmium and other dangerous pollutants that result from burning coal at coal-fired power plants.

A copy of the Notice of Intent to Sue letter sent to the EPA is available at: http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/NOI_RCRA_1_18_12.pdf

Following a spill of more than a billion gallons of coal ash at a disposal pond in Harriman, TN, in December 2008, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced in 2009 plans to set federal coal ash regulations by year’s end. In May 2010, the EPA proposed a hybrid regulation to classify coal ash either as hazardous or non-hazardous waste. After eight public hearings across the country and more than 450,000 public comments, the agency decided to delay finalizing the rule amid intense pressure from the coal and power industries.

Despite numerous studies showing the inadequacy of current federal coal ash safeguards to protect public health and the environment as well as documented evidence by the EPA and environmental groups showing coal ash poisoned aquifers and surface waters at 150 sites in 36 states, the EPA continues to fail to adopt federal safeguards. Today’s lawsuit would force the EPA to set deadlines for review and revision of relevant solid and hazardous waste regulations to address coal ash, as well as the much needed and overdue changes to the test that determines whether a waste is hazardous under RCRA. {Continue Reading »}