“The residents of Waukegan cannot bear the financial cost of yet another environmental catastrophe caused by a private company.”
– Ann Taylor, Mayor of Waukegan, Illinois
On Wednesday, February 14th, an Illinois Pollution Control Board hearing was held in Waukegan. The day-long hearing was on NRG Energy’s request to exempt one of their polluting coal ash ponds at the Waukegan Power Station from Illinois’s coal ash rules. Leadership from Clean Power Lake County brought out many Waukegan residents to make comments on the request. The Board heard from over two dozen Waukegan residents during the public comment section – all sharing heartfelt testimonies to urge the board against approving the exemption. The people of Waukegan made their message clear – NRG Energy shouldn’t get a pass and must be held accountable for their coal ash mess.
NRG is the owner of the Waukegan Power Station, where coal was burned for decades before the plant closed in 2022. Coal ash (a byproduct of burning coal that contains toxic substances that can pollute waterways, groundwater, drinking water, and the air) is stored in three coal ash ponds on site: the Eastern Pond, the Western Pond, and the Old Pond. New coal ash rules in Illinois provide requirements and safeguards for how these coal ash ponds can be operated and closed. NRG is seeking an exemption from these rules, calling for an ‘adjusted standard’, for the Old Pond.
At the hearing, the Illinois EPA reiterated the extensive evidence that the Old Pond received coal ash from the Waukegan site for forty years or more, defending its position that it should be regulated by the state rules.
Too Long to Wait for Cleanup
“PRN has been fighting to get this site cleaned up since 2012,” said Andrew Rehn, “but for the community members of Waukegan, this fight has been ongoing for decades. Its too long. They need this ash cleaned up.”
In 2012, PRN and partners filed a lawsuit against Midwest Generation (the NRG subsidiary that owns the Waukegan Power Plant) for groundwater pollution due to their coal ash at a number of different sites, including Waukegan. In 2019, we won on liability, proving that NRG is responsible for groundwater pollution on the site, but the trial for remedy is ongoing. This lawsuit is separate from the case the Board considered at the hearing, but it covers the same subject matter; the fate of coal ash at Waukegan. After twelve years, that lawsuit is still ongoing.
In 2019, Illinois passed the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act, teeing up a rulemaking process that we finalized in 2021. Illinois’s coal ash rules govern how coal ash impoundments should be closed – either cleaned up or capped. Waukegan is explicitly listed as a priority in those rules. It is now 2024, and not a single coal ash pond in Illinois has a proposed closure plan. The Illinois EPA, it seems, is waiting on the Board to decide if the rules apply to the Old Pond before approving or disapproving closure plans for the coal ash ponds in Waukegan. This community, and communities around the state, needs action on coal ash.
No More Delays
NRG Energy has used every tactic to delay action on cleaning up these impoundments. In fact, you heard from us late last year when they lost an appeal to delay last Wednesday’s hearing. The Illinois Pollution Control Board must move swiftly to resolve this case and dismiss the adjusted standard, so the people of Waukegan can see these dirty coal ash ponds cleaned up.
