Gov Rod the Blob should get some kudos for this negotiation.
(photo actually taken in Little Italy, but was the only smokestack I could find. Click to embiggen. Except for Aunt P.)
Utility to cut coal emissions
Plants may close if plan too costly
Three of the largest sources of air pollution in the Chicago area will either shut down or become dramatically cleaner within the next dozen years.
After months of negotiations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration, Midwest Generation agreed Monday to deep cuts in smog, soot and mercury pollution from its six coal-fired power plants.
Company executives also raised the possibility that three aging plants--in Waukegan and Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village areas--might close if they decide it isn't worth spending millions to clean them up.
I can see the Pilsen plant from my window (a mile away, or so), meaning that I breathe its emissions too. Would be very happy to see it close.
Of course, the details are all that really matter, and I don't like the long window of implementation.
To broker the deal, the state compromised and gave Midwest Generation more time to meet the stringent standards. Mercury emissions will be controlled by 2009, nitrogen oxide by 2012 and sulfur dioxide by 2018.The cuts will be faster and deeper than U.S. rules require.
“This is a really good deal for Illinois,” said Doug Scott, director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. “We're giving them a few more years to comply, but we are getting so much in return.”
Cleaning up Midwest Generation's dirty smokestacks is a critical matter for the Chicago area. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide churning from the coal plants contribute to smog and soot that hangs over the city and its suburbs, especially during the summer.
Groups such as the Sierra Club, American Lung Association and Environment Illinois have campaigned for years to shut down or clean up the plants. They've circulated petitions, paid for ads on CTA trains and protested outside the company's headquarters.
....
The groups welcomed the deal as a good start.“We would like it to happen much faster, but this is a big improvement,” said Dorian Breuer of the Pilsen/Southwest Side Greens, a group trying to get a non-binding referendum on the city ballot that calls for deeper cuts in pollution.
Midwest Generation also is the state's largest source of mercury, a toxic metal that falls into lakes and streams and becomes more dangerous as it moves up the food chain. The pollutant has become so pervasive in U.S. waterways that Illinois and 43 other states urge pregnant women and children to avoid or limit eating certain fish.
The utility was responsible for 1,533 of the 5,609 pounds of mercury released into the air in Illinois during 2004, the last year for which figures are available.
Not to mention the Bush administration wants to give tax cuts to coal plant owners, and encourage further delays in the rest of the country. Air pollution effects all of us.
Mercury controls will be installed by July 2008 at the Pilsen, Little Village and Waukegan plants, and a year later at plants outside Romeoville, Joliet and Peoria. Emissions must be reduced by at least 90 percent by 2015.By contrast, federal rules require utilities to reduce mercury pollution by 70 percent by 2018.
Tags: Chicago, /Energy, /environment, /mercury
