The 2026 Legislative Session in Springfield is in full swing, which means the staff here at Prairie Rivers Network are hard at work educating decision makers on the importance and urgent need to enact statewide safeguards—from threats of data centers and herbicide drift to wetlands protections (and more). Below you will find a list of […]
Climate & Energy
Data Centers
Data Centers in Illinois Data centers are surging into Illinois, and they pose unique challenges to our electric grid, our communities, and our water; their demand for an immense amount of 24/7/365 electricity has already wreaked havoc on our electric bills, and will continue to do so without policy action. Many existing data centers have […]
Prairie State Coal Plant
What we generally refer to as the “Prairie State Coal Plant” is officially known as the Prairie State Energy Campus, which includes a coal-fired power plant (1,600 MW) co-located with a coal mine in southwestern Illinois. The plant is the youngest and biggest coal plant in the state, and it emits more air pollution than […]
Clean & Reliable Grid Affordability Act
The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act is Illinois’ bold response to federal clean energy rollbacks, and a critical first step to address the ongoing energy affordability crisis. Energy costs in Illinois are high due to the expensive capacity market and, increasingly, data centers. CRGA mitigates rising utility bills by reducing the peak demand […]
Sugar Camp Mine
Illinois is the nation’s fourth largest coal producing state, and the Sugar Camp Mine (MC#1 Mine and Viking Mine), located in Southern Illinois, is one of the largest coal mines in the state and nation. The mine owner has a long history of health, safety, and environmental violations, as outlined in the timeline below. The […]
