Recent Disasters Across the Country Spur Communities Impacted by Coal Ash Contamination to Call for Stronger Protections
CHICAGO – Today, community members from across the state of Illinois whose lives have been negatively impacted by coal ash waste contamination joined the Sierra Club, Environmental Law & Policy Center, and Prairie Rivers Network to outline why the state must strengthen proposed rules to protect communities from coal ash disasters and ongoing threats to public health.
Adjacent to Illinois’ 22 coal-fired power plants are 91 coal ash ponds, and no matter the plant owner, outdated and cost-cutting disposal methods have led to the state’s discovery of contamination at each site it has tested. Coal ash is the waste material left after coal is burned and it is full of heavy metals, like mercury, lead and arsenic, which can cause cancer and brain damage in humans and are toxic to fish and wildlife.
“Illinois’ aging coal ash pits, many of which were built in places they never should have been – over mine voids and in floodplains of rivers – put our state at extremely high risk for a coal ash catastrophe,” said Traci Barkley, Water Resources Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network. “Strong rules on coal ash waste from Governor Quinn and state agencies will help protect communities from the undue liability of having to clean up messes from polluters.
The Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) is holding hearings in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss how and when power plants will be required to close and clean up dangerous coal ash pits in the state of Illinois. Hearings in Springfield in February yielded strong turnout from community members who fear their own drinking water may be contaminated from neighboring coal ash pits.
The groups are speaking out to IPCB to require the removal of coal ash from failing pits to high and dry landfills, allow for the assessment and prevention of damage to rivers and lakes and provide more opportunity for public input. The groups will also ask that power companies be required to provide financial assurances so that taxpayers aren’t left paying the bill for coal ash disaster clean up.
“Water is one of Illinois’ greatest resources, and it is time to stand up for Lake Michigan, the Illinois River, the Middle Fork River and the many other waterways that have been fouled by coal ash contamination for decades,” said Jack Darin, Director of the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter. “Clean water is a right, and strong state and federal coal ash rules will help protect our water quality, safety and public health.”
“Our lives in Lake County center around Lake Michigan. It is where we get our drinking water, it is where our children play in the summer and it is even where families in the Waukegan community fish for sustenance,” Maryfran Troha, Resident from Lake County who lives close to NRG Energy’s Waukegan coal plant. “In Waukegan we have coal ash pits, with a history of contamination, sitting right next to Lake Michigan and our community and our lake deserve stronger protections.”
“Strengthening coal ash rules here in Illinois will protect communities from dangerous drinking water and major clean up costs in the event of a disaster,” said Andrew Armstrong, a staff attorney with Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC).
The hearings come in the aftermath of the this winter’s coal ash disaster in North Carolina, where toxic coal ash flowed through a broken pipe into the Dan River, contaminating as far as 70 miles downstream. The disaster, which could cost up to $1 billion to clean up, could have been avoided if the alarm raised by community groups and citizens for years had been heeded.
As they are written now, the state’s proposed rules fall severely short of protecting Illinois communities from the serious harm that coal ash pits pose, and the state’s rules fall short of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) considerations of a federal coal ash rule that would protect communities.
The groups also highlighted a new report on from the Sierra Club, which explored coal ash pits that could potentially be the site of the country’s next coal ash catastrophe and focused on the coal ash pits at Dynegy’s E.D. Edwards coal plant in Peoria, Ill.
“Dynegy – a Texas-based energy company – just took the reins of the E.D. Edwards coal plant. With the toxic legacy that already exists from the coal ash pits near Pekin Lake and the Illinois River, we want certainty that the burden of clean up won’t fall to the Peoria community,” said Tracy Fox, resident of Peoria County who lives close to Dynegy’s E.D. Edwards coal plant.
“Dynegy’s Vermillion coal plant no longer burns coal here in Vermillion, but the toxic legacy of its ash pits remain,” said Kristin Camp, resident of Pilot Township in Vermillion County who lives close to Dynegy’s retired Vermillion coal plant. “We receive water from a well on our property which is located in the vicinity of the leaking ash ponds. I am seriously concerned about how a breach in the ash pond containment system would affect our local water supply and quality of life.”
“Our quality of our air and water is under assault from toxic pollution from three coal plants in Will County,” said Tracy Panetino, Resident from Will County who lives close to NRG Energy’s Will County, Joliet 9, and Joliet 29 coal plants. “Water quality standards for arsenic, cyanide, and other hazardous pollutants have been far exceeded in our community. That is unacceptable.”
The hearings will take place at the Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph, in Chicago on Wednesday, May 14 at 10 a.m. and continue as needed on Thursday May 15 at 9 a.m.
