University of Illinois Academic Senate votes to divest from coal companies This week, the University of Illinois Academic Senate (over 200 faculty and students) voted in overwhelming support of a resolution to divest from coal companies — shifting the University’s investments to socially responsible funds. The resolutions was pushed by Student Senators and the UIUC […]
Coal
New Coal Ash Safeguards Effective Nationwide
On October 19th, the U.S. EPA’s new safeguards on the disposal of coal ash went into effect nationwide. The rules are targeted to prevent impoundment failures (like the massive Kingston, Tennessee spill in 2008), protect groundwater beneath coal ash disposal sites, and establish basic requirements for maintaining these massive waste storage pits. From now on, […]
Clinton Landfill Now Eyeing Coal Combustion Waste
While it is great news that Clinton Landfill has agreed to not store federally-regulated levels of PCBs, the saga isn’t over yet. An article in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette quoted the landfill’s attorney as saying that the landfill is looking to get into the business of accepting coal combustion waste from power plants. Coal waste can […]
Congress Moving to Scrap Community Protections, Giving Polluters Free Pass on Coal Ash Dumping
Just three months (and only 42 working days) after EPA signed its first-ever coal ash rule, Representative McKinley (R-WV) has introduced a bill that guts the new EPA rule and protects the polluters who finance his campaigns. The bill will permanently give polluters a free pass to dump coal ash (the second largest industrial waste stream […]
Victory! Grassroots Group Halts Coal Mine
Canton-area residents celebrated yesterday after winning an eight-year battle to halt the proposed North Canton coal strip mine – successfully protecting Fulton County communities and their right to clean water. On January 16th Capital Resources Development Company, LLC asked the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (Illinois DNR) to withdraw its permit application for the mine, […]
