FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 18, 2025
Contacts:
Amanda Pankau, Prairie Rivers Network, apankau@prairierivers.org, 217-840-3057
Jack Darin, Sierra Club Illinois, jack.darin@sierraclub.org, 212-229-4690
Rob Weinstock, Northwestern Environmental Advocacy Center, robert.weinstock@law.northwestern.edu, 312-503-1457
Environmental organizations challenge a TVA decision that will allow a coal mine, with a history of environmental and labor violations, to significantly expand its coal mining operations in Southern IL
Franklin County, Illinois – Today, Prairie Rivers Network and Sierra Club Illinois are suing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federally owned public power provider, to block the federal government from a massive expansion of coal mining in Illinois.
The decision would allow Sugar Camp Mine to mine over 20,000 acres of TVA-owned coal now, and allow TVA to privatize the entire 60,000 acres of underground federal coal reserves in Franklin, Hamilton, and Jefferson counties. The Trump administration’s promises to resurrect coal largely ignore the economic realities of the industry’s decades-long decline, however the administration’s efforts are already harming the health and safety of miners and leading to more air and water pollution.
The current mine operators and their parent company, Foresight, have a long history of noncompliance with mining and worker safety protections, including negligence leading to miner deaths and numerous water quality violations from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Specifically, the operator misused toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) firefighting foam in an attempt to put out a mine fire, and they criminally failed to notify workers working in the mine while the fire burned.
“Mining at this site has wreaked havoc on the lives of Southern Illinois residents for years,” said Amanda Pankau, Director of Energy and Community Resiliency at Prairie Rivers Network. “Not only do mining discharges threaten their ability to enjoy Illinois’ beautiful natural spaces, but residents have also experienced damage to their homes and properties, faced exposure to harmful chemicals like PFAS, and worry every day about potential impacts to their own health.”
The TVA proposal would significantly increase the state’s climate and health harming coal extraction at a time when Illinois is taking nation-leading action to reduce its carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.
“Illinois is making bold progress on the climate crisis, and is creating thousands of good jobs building clean energy to replace coal in our power supply,” said Jack Darin, Director of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter. “We cannot let the federal government take us backward with a massive expansion of coal mining, especially at a site where the operator is already in flagrant violation of environmental laws and guilty of polluting the groundwater with forever toxins.”
The complaint was filed in federal court for the Southern District of Illinois. Prairie Rivers Network is represented in the matter by Rob Weinstock of the Northwestern Environmental Advocacy Center, and Sierra Club Illinois is represented by Albert Ettinger.
“TVA’s actions are unlawful, arbitrary, and irresponsible. Its choices fail the standards set by Congress in the National Environmental Policy Act and Administrative Procedures Act and are set to devastate rural communities and ecosystems.” said Robert Weinstock of the Northwestern Environmental Advocacy Center.
“TVA’s decision to allow the mining and burning of this coal will contribute substantially to flooding, extreme weather, extinction of wildlife, and other known effects of climate change,” Pankau said. “The people of Southern Illinois deserve better.”
Read more about the Sugar Camp Mine.
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Prairie Rivers Network
At Prairie Rivers Network (PRN), we protect water, heal land, and inspire change. Using the creative power of science, law, and collective action, we protect and restore our rivers, return healthy soils and diverse wildlife to our lands, and transform how we care for the earth and for each other. To learn more please visit www.prairierivers.org.
Sierra Club Illinois
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.8 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information about the Illinois Chapter of Sierra Club, visit www.sierraclub.org/illinois.
