The Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, one of Vermilion County’s beautiful and best natural resources, is under constant threat from coal ash. Dynegy’s enormous coal ash ponds sit perched on the banks of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, Illinois’s only National Scenic River. The National Park Service, steward of the National Scenic […]
Coal
Open dumping of coal ash waste called “beneficial use”
July 25, 2016 | Blog Post
An investigation to determine if coal ash used near Kickapoo State Park has contaminated a lake reveals why the current regulations for beneficial use of coal ash are broken and need to be changed.
University of Illinois Votes for Coal Divestment
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 […]
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 […]
