FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday June 4, 2013
Local Groups Appeal Illinois Coal Mine’s Operating Permit After More than 600 Permit Violations on Record
Citizens Lead Renewed Effort to Protect Freshwater Resources From Coal Mine Pollution
Click here to view permit appeal
CHICAGO – This week, Prairie Rivers Network, the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) appealed Springfield Coal Company’s wastewater discharge permit at the Industry Mine in central Illinois after more than 600 violations of the mine’s current permit. After nearly a decade-long fight to protect rivers and streams in McDonough and Schuyler counties, the groups are calling on the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) to send the Industry Coal Mine’s wastewater discharge permit back to the drawing board to ensure there are meaningful limits that will protect the public from manganese, sulfates and other harmful pollutants discharged by the strip mine.
“This mine has one of the worst environmental track records in the entire country,” said Ramona Cook who lives near the Industry mine. “This case cries out for justice. Our water protection agency is handing out permits to proven bad actors. Business as usual should stop here.”
“The outcome of this permit approval is beyond belief,” said Kim Sedgwick, a longtime advocate for wildlife in the LaMoine basin. “It is time that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency follows regulations set by the agency itself for coal mining companies. Protections are there for a reason, and Illinois state agencies must follow through on regulations to protect our health and our wildlife.”
The Springfield Coal Company runs strip mining operations at the Industry Mine in central Illinois. Strip mining bulldozes away earth and rocks to get to coal buried near the surface. This type of mining can lead to soil erosion and destruction of agricultural land. When rain washes the loosened top soil into streams, sediments pollute waterways. Sediment destroys habitat for fish and other stream life and smothers plant life downstream. There is also an increased risk of toxic heavy metal contamination of ground water when elements in upturned earth seep into the water table and streams. Strip mining destroys headwater streams, wetlands and entire drainage basins which can exacerbate flooding and drought conditions.
The Industry Mine currently faces up to $64 million dollars in civil penalties for past violations, but the Illinois EPA granted the facility a new water discharge permit in April 2013. Without any evidence that the mine has updated its treatment systems or altered its operations to effectively manage and treat wastewater, Illinois EPA authorized the mine to continue to discharge pollution into tributaries of Grindstone Creek, which flows into the LaMoine River and eventually the Illinois River.
“Since 2004, this mine has only been in compliance for one month,” said Traci Barkley, Water Resources Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network. “If our regulators do not demand the law is followed here and now, will they ever?”
“It is unfathomable how our state agency can award this mine a new discharge permit when it is clear this coal company is a rogue operator because of its years of blatant permit violations,” said Joyce Blumenshine, Mining Issues Committee Chair, Illinois Chapter Sierra Club. “Allowing a coal company to poison our water without any regulations or recourse puts the health of central Illinois in jeopardy. Agency permits and enforcement failed to regulate this company for over a decade in the past, and even legal action did not even make the company improve their practices. The citizens of Illinois and our environment deserve much better efforts than this overly weak permit revision.”
Along with the Illinois Attorney General’s office, Prairie Rivers Network, the Sierra Club and ELPC are preparing for a hearing before the IPCB on August 20 and 21 to determine the appropriate fines the Springfield Coal Company will face for its more than 600 current wastewater discharge permit violations.
For high resolution images of the Industry Mine, please visit: http://www.inillinoiswater.org/downloads/Industry%20Coal%20Mine.zip
Please credit Marianne Morgan/InIllinoisWater.org
CONTACTS:
David Jakubiak, Environmental Law & Policy Center, djakubiak@elpc.org, (312) 795-3713
Traci Barkley, Prairie Rivers Network, tbarkley@prairierivers.org, (217) 621-3013
Cindy Skrukrud, Sierra Club, cindy.skrukrud@sierraclub.org, (312) 251-1680 x110
###
In the News: (updated on July 8, 2013 with press coverage)- State goes easy on coal mines (PDF), Illinois Times (June 13, 2013)
- Delayed Action: The Industry Mine (PDF), Tri-States Public Radio (June 5, 2013)
- Groups appeal new permit for Illinois mine (June 4, 2013) on WAND-TV (Champaign, IL); San Francisco Chronicle; State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL); The Republic (Columbus, IN); WHBF-TV (Quad Cities, IL)
