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8th Day Center for Justice Radioshow

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Play Audio of Eco-Justice meeting (streaming audio) 2007 LVEJO hosts Larry Lohman with 4 pictures >>

Latino Leadership Briefing On Global Warming Download "NLCCC-Chicago Leadership Briefing" PDF

LVEJO hosts Larry Lohman

Sulfur-emissions tax heading for board vote
Stroger, board near compromise
Weird Weather Is Result of Global Warming
Fruta mortal de plantas energéticas
Mercury Rule Press Conference
Enviros sue EPA for alleged violations at Ill. coal plants
Governor urged to cut coal emissions

SAVE THE DATE! YOU ARE INVITED TO A
“LATINO LEADERSHIP BRIEFING ON GLOBAL WARMING”
MARCH 17, 2008 / 9:30 – 11:30 am
CHICAGO CENTER FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGY
445 N. SACRAMENTO BLVD. CHICAGO, IL
HOSTED BY: THE NATIONAL LATINO COALITION ON CLIMATE CHANGE and
CO-HOSTED BY: LITTLE VILLAGE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATION (LVEJO)

Save the date! You are invited to a Briefing to learn more about the profoundly important issue of global warming -- why it matters to Latinos, the challenges and opportunities for us, and how it will disproportionately impact our community. A panel of top issue experts will give presentations and answer questions. The National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC) is a new effort comprised of a number of national Latino organizations. We seek to inform, educate, and engage our community on global warming. NLCCC members include the National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC); Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA); National Hispanic Environmental Council (NHEC); Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF); the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC);
the Hispanic Federation; and the U. S. Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI). Admission is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP to attend. Please RSVP to: Juan Rodriguez, at jrodriguez@nheec.org or call 703-861-6064. Come learn about one of the most important issues of our time!

LVEJO hosts Larry Lohman

with 4 pictures

Click on any thumbnail image for a larger view

Sulfur-emissions tax heading for board vote

Published February 21, 2007

COOK COUNTY -- The Cook County Board's Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a proposal to tax sulfur-dioxide emissions, a measure board President Todd Stroger said he would likely veto if it is passed by the board.

The committee voted 10-6 to approve the proposed tax, which could bring in $3 million.

The full County Board also met Tuesday and approved five measures to raise various fees expected to generate about $1.5 million this year. The board rejected proposals to increase taxes on food, liquor and hotels.

Stroger has said he will not raise taxes this year but he is open to raising fees, such as those charged to businesses for liquor licenses and building permits.

Board members are expected to begin voting on amendments to Stroger's proposed $3 billion budget Thursday.

Stroger, board near compromise

February 21, 2007

BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter

A compromise is in the works between Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and the commissioners who have just seven days left to pass a $3 billion budget.

They've been at odds since Stroger laid out a plan to slash the jobs of thousands of nurses, prosecutors and police to balance the budget without raising taxes. Last week, a dozen commissioners presented an alternative that would instead cut hundreds of Stroger's highest-paid managers.

"By Thursday, I truly believe there will be a compromise," Commissioner John Daley said, pointing to the day the 17-member County Board is set to begin the voting process.

But just what that compromise entails remains a work in progress.

"I don't think we're really that far apart," Stroger said, adding he expects to "have something that satisfies at least nine members," though he indicated he won't change his mind on closing underutilized health clinics.

Shot down Tuesday were proposals to raise taxes on restaurants, hotels and alcohol, though a board committee did approve a tax on coal-fired power plants. That could bring up to $6 million a year, but officials say a long legal fight is likely ahead.

spatterson@suntimes.com

Weird Weather Is Result of Global Warming
Planning for A Less Warm Future

(CBS) CHICAGO There's snow in Texas today and not a shovel's worth here in Chicago. What's going on?

More and more experts are beginning to believe it may be caused by global warming. There are some who even believe Hurricane Katrina was the result of global warming. CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot has more on a town hall meeting in Chicago today to discuss the city's plan for the future.

Katrina, the hurricane that ravaged New Orleans; the 1995 heat wave that left more than 700 people dead in Chicago -- experts say both of these devastating natural disasters were caused by global warming. "It's going to get a lot worse, a lot faster than anybody realizes," said UIC College of Medicine doctor Howard Ehrman.

More than 200 people gathered here at Whitney Young Magnet School for a global warming, town hall meeting. They came to hear city officials and community groups express the importance of taking care of the environment, now. "It's great for people to change light bulbs in their house and to walk -- that's all very important -- but themajor paradigm shift that has to be made is basically to get off carbon dioxide and fossil fuels," Ehrman said. The primary cause of global warming is carbon dioxide. It comes from power plants, airplanes, and car emissions. The carbon dioxide, along with pollution, collects in the air. The sun's heat is trapped. Then the Earth, warms up.

"It means we've got to put billions, not millions, but billions of dollars into public transit and we've got to stop building coal power plants and close the ones that exist down," added Ehrman. Young people at the meeting said they're willing to do their part to help the planet. "I'll probably shut off the lights, when they don't need to be on," said Whitney Young seventh grader Patrick Wieckowski. "I'll probably recycle more and I'll try to save water in my house."

The student said by taking action now, he'll protect the environment for future generations.

Today's global warming meeting is the first in a series of gatherings to take place this year about the issue.

ECOLOGÍA :
Fruta mortal de plantas energéticas

Javier Sierra

8 de julio de 2006

Si hubiera un campeonato mundial de resistencia a la contaminación atmosférica, el sur de Chicago sería un serio candidato para convertirse en sede de la competición. Acá, dos barrios abrumadoramente latinos resisten con especial heroísmo este bombardeo diario contra la salud de decenas de miles de personas.

Se trata de Little Village (La Villita) y Pilsen, comunidades que sufren la pésima fortuna de estar especialmente cerca de dos arcaicas plantas de generación de energía, la Crawford —la mayor fuente de contaminación en Illinois— y la Fisk. Son dos de las seis plantas de combustión de carbón en Chicago, y entre todas han cometido más de 7,600 violaciones contra las leyes de aire limpio.

Pero ni la ley ni la limpieza son ideales a los que aspiran estos dos enemigos de la salud pública, especialmente en los meses de julio y agosto, cuando el calor y la humedad hacen del respirar un trabajo forzado para demasiados residentes.

"Estos son días pegajosos, de cielos blancos y aire rancio, cuando sientes la mugre de la polución y el polvo de carbón pegado a la piel ", dice Kim Wasserman-Nieto, directora de la Organización de Justicia Medioambiental de La Villita (LVEJO), el grupo que a duras penas lidera la resistencia contra los asaltos de la contaminación. "La mayoría de nuestras familias con niños asmáticos tienen que cerrar las ventanas, y muchas de ellas no tienen aire acondicionado".

Desde que empezaron a operar en la década de 1950, estas plantas prácticamente no han realizado ninguna mejora en las instalaciones ni han aplicado ninguna de las salvaguardas de la Ley de Aire Limpio de 1970.

En el caso particular de la planta Fisk, anualmente, sus chimeneas emiten 4,300 toneladas de dióxido de azufre y más de 2,300 toneladas de dióxidos de nitrógeno, compuestos que contribuyen a la lluvia ácida y actúan como abrasivos en los pulmones.

El bombardeo químico también incluye 117 toneladas de partículas nocivas —causantes de enfermedades respiratorias y cardiovasculares— y 26 toneladas de compuestos orgánicos volátiles, conocidos agentes cancerígenos.

Según un estudio realizado por la Universidad de Harvard en 2000, las nueve plantas de combustión de carbón existentes en Illinois anualmente causan 300 muertes y 14 mil ataques de asma.

Sólo en las comunidades aledañas a las plantas Crawford y Fisk, cada año la contaminación causa la muerte de 41 personas, 2,800 ataques de asma y 500 visitas a las salas de emergencia.

"Al menos una vez cada tres o cuatro meses las plantas causan emisiones ‘accidentales’ que en un radio de 10 cuadras deja una capa de polvo de carbón en carros, casas y otras estructuras", dice Wasserman-Nieto. "¿Y qué hacen las autoridades para aliviar este problema? Nada".

Según un estudio del procurador general de Illinois, ninguna de las nueve plantas de carbón del estado jamás ha recibido una citación a causa de las violaciones.

Las corporaciones dueñas de estas plantas han encontrado en la Administración Bush a su mejor aliado.

En 2003, la Agencia de Protección Medioambiental (EPA) decidió suspender sus investigaciones de 50 plantas energéticas en todo el país por violaciones a la Ley del Aire Limpio. Esto surgió a raíz de la decisión de la administración de "asegurar mejoras en la calidad del aire que sean económicas".

Crawford y Fisk también se benefician de decisiones federales que permiten a plantas viejas y sucias evitar mejoras en sus instalaciones que reducirían sus niveles de contaminación.

Esta falta de acción nos perjudica especialmente a los latinos. Según estudios, los niños de familias con ingresos inferiores a los 20 mil dólares anuales tienen el doble de probabilidades de contraer asma que los de familias más acomodadas. Asimismo, el 80% de los latinos vivimos en los condados del país con la peor calidad de aire.

Atacar este problema también tiene sentido económico. Según la EPA, en sus primeros 20 años, la Ley del Aire Limpio le ha costado al país unos 500,000 millones en mejoras, pero le ha ahorrado unos 22 billones en gastos médicos y laborales.

Si estas plantas se atuvieran a los estándares de la Ley de Aire Limpio, se evitarían cerca del 70% de las muertes y ataques de asma.

Mientras tanto, en Little Village, Pilsen y en el resto de las comunidades alrededor de las 500 instalaciones exentas de cumplir con los estándares anticontaminación del siglo XXI en todo el país, cientos de miles de personas siguen recolectando la fruta mortal de estas plantas.

Como dice Wasserman-Nieto, "En La Villita, no hay un momento de respiro".

Javier Sierra es columnista del Sierra Club.
© Copyright, 2006 Lozano Enterprises. All Rights reserved

Mercury Rule Press Conference

LVEJO Director Kim Wasserman and Campaign Coordinator Elda Godinez's speeches from the latest meeting regarding community Health issues
Download the speeches as a Word document

The owner of these 2 plants is Edison International, the 7 th largest energy company in the U.S.

According to the Fortune 500 in 2005, Edison’s profits rose 24% in just 1 year to $1.14 Billion, with revenues of $11.9 Billion and Assets of $34.8 Billion.

Yesterday, ½ Million of us marched for our democratic rights as immigrants. Today, we march for environmental justice and our human rights.

National & State “cap & trade” programs on the 2 pollutants which combine to form fine particles, sulfur dioxide (SOx) and nitrous oxide (NOx), don’t work for older, dirtier plants like Crawford & Fisk. Each, along with 300 plants nationwide, have increased the release of SOx & NOx since 1995, the first year the U.S. Clean Air Act capped SOx emissions at power plants.

The City of Chicago has the legal right to pass a Clean Power Ordinance requiring Edison International to pay a small portion of its Billions in profits to clean-up Crawford & Fisk.

Midwest Generation, Edison’s Subsidiary, thinks it can buy our silence by spreading money around the community – but we won’t let them succeed.

It's time for Chicago to stop footing the bill. Mayor Daley and the City Council need to pass the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance NOW for our health, education, economy and environment.

Hola mi nombre es Elda Godinez
Y soy una residente de la Comunidad de La Villita en Chicago
Como todos nosotros y como madre, me preocupan los efectos del mercurio en la salud de mi hija y de otros niños en Illinois. Puedo ver las dos chimeneas de la planta eléctrica de carbón Crawford desde la puerta de mi casa.

La Comunidad de La Villita le pide a la mesa directiva del Control de la Contaminación en Illinois que apoye y pase la Ley del Mercurio propuesta por el Gobernador Blagojevich para limpiar por un 90% toda la contaminación del Mercurio en todas las plantas eléctricas de carbón en todo Illinois para el 2012.
Estas plantas de carbón en Illinois, incluyendo Crawford y Fisk, las únicas dos en Chicago, emiten 39% del mercurio en Illinois

El Mercurio de estas plantas cae en nuestros ríos, lagos, en los jardines donde plantamos vegetales y el la tierra donde nosotros vivimos y donde nuestros hijos juegan.
Mucha gente pobre y trabajadora en nuestro estado vive de los peces que ellos pescan y los vegetales que ellos cultivan, especialmente en el verano. .

Muchos de nuestros vecinos pescan en los ríos y lagos de Illinois como un pasatiempo o diversión, sin saber que estos pescados están contaminados por mercurio gracias a las plantas eléctricas de carbón que hay en nuestros vecindarios.
El mercurio es una de las sustancias mas toxicas y puede dañar permanentemente el cerebro, riñones y el desarrollo del feto. Una exposición pequeña a altos niveles del mercurio puede causar danos al pulmón, nausea, vomito, diarrea, incrementar la presión sanguínea o los latidos del corazón, ronchas en la piel e irritación de los ojos..
Niños de corta edad son mas sensibles al mercurio que los adultos. El mercurio en el cuerpo de la madre pasa al feto y se puede acumular ahí. También puede pasar al bebe amantado por medio de la leche, aunque los beneficios de amamantar en la mayoría de las veces sobre pasa este riesgo.
Los defectos dañinos que un feto puede desarrollar incluyen daño al corazón, retardo mental, ceguera y problemas para hablar.
Le pido a todos nosotros que estamos hoy aquí que hablemos con nuestras familias, amigos y compañeros de trabajo a unirse a la Campana Libre de Mercurio para asegurarnos de la aprobación de la Ley del Gobernador.
Una vez que ganemos esta Victoria, necesitamos seguir trabajando juntos para limpiar toda la otra contaminación que sale de estas plantas como: Hollín, Dióxido de Fluoruro, Smog, Dióxido de carbón entre otros, que están causando el calentamiento de la tierra.
Invitación a Patti Blagojevich

We moms of Little Village would like to cordially invite you to visit our community, our parks, gardens, houses and the industrial areas that affect our health, and to meet all of our families who support the Governor’s Mercury Rule.
Our community which houses 100,000 people has the highest density of children per capita in the state, and the largest percentage of women of child-bearing age. For all these reason we are so vulnerable to the effects of Mercury and are affected by all the pollution from the coal power plants.

ROMEOVILLE — Midwest Generation said Friday that it will resume operation of two power-generating units at its coal-fired station in town next year.

These units were temporarily shut down in early 2003 because of market conditions, according to a Midwest Generation representative. Specifically, the company's main customer, local utility operator Exelon Corp., cut back on energy purchases.

"Our decision to resume operations reflects the strength and outlook for our fleet of coal-fired plants in Illinois," said Georgia Nelson, president of Midwest Generation. "Since we suspended operations in 2003, general market conditions have improved, and our coal plants have performed exceptionally well in the increasingly competitive market for wholesale power."

She noted that as the independent power industry works to recover from a downturn a few years ago, Midwest Generation has repaid or restructured about $2.6 billion in debt and lease obligations.

Reinstating operation of the two units in Romeoville means the company will fill about 30 more jobs at the station. Adding the jobs would be a 20 percent increase over its current 157 employees. Employees at any Midwest Generation site will be eligible for the positions.

The company plans to talk with local union leadership within the next couple of weeks about the process of hiring for the jobs, said Doug McFarlan, vice president of public affairs. He said the units hopefully will be operational again by early next year.

The two units that are starting up again have a capacity of about 300 megawatts — enough electricity for 350,000 homes. Two other Will County Station units with a capacity of about 780 megawatts continue to function.

New pollution controls will cut in half the units' rate of nitrogen oxide emissions, which can contribute to smog, compared to when Midwest Generation acquired its Illinois plans in 1999. Prior to suspending operations in 2003, the company already had reduced sulfur dioxide emissions at these units by
40 percent. Similar decreases were achieved for the other two Will County units and the entire Midwest Generation fleet.

In May, Midwest Generation announced it would close its Collins Generating Station near Morris. The decision meant cutting 94 jobs and has the
potential to take away millions in tax dollars from local schools and other government services.

Standing in the shadow of a giant inflatable fish in Waukegan Wednesday, environmentalists and state lawmakers called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to require the state's coal-burning power plants to sharply reduce toxic emissions, especially mercury, which they said causes birth defects and developmental problems in children.

"We believe we deserve the same level [as other states] of protection in Illinois," said Rebecca Stanfield, an environmental attorney with Illinois Public Interest Research Group, at a news conference.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a report summarizing the environmental and economic impact of imposing stricter emission standards on power plants, such as those in Joliet, Romeoville and Waukegan, than the federal government will require.

IEPA spokesman Dennis McMurray said the agency expects to submit its report to the General Assembly and the governor's office in August.

Ninety days after the report is submitted, the IEPA can propose new power plant emissions rules to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, which has a year to act on them, he said.

Local and state politicians, along with organizations such as the Sierra Club, Lake Michigan Federation and Illinois Public Interest Research Group, are urging Blagojevich to require the state's coal-burning plants to drastically cut toxic emissions, especially mercury.

"Thousands of residents live every day with their lives impacted by mercury," said state Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), standing in front of handmade signs proclaiming "No More Mercury!" "Yet the feds have taken no action to clean up emissions."

New federal standards on mercury emissions are due out next year, but state environmentalists say they don't go far enough.

"He was certainly concerned about the standards proposed at the federal level," Ottenhoff said, adding that Blagojevich is in favor of stricter rules for state power plants.

But an Illinois power plant industry spokesman said the new federal standards will cut mercury emissions significantly and a patchwork of state regulations would cripple the state power industry.

"We strongly oppose state standards being different from federal standards," said Doug McFarlan, spokesman for Midwest Generation.

Different state standards "will only disadvantage Illinois businesses and jobs," McFarlan said.

"Our industry is competitive, and that competition crosses state lines," he said. "By having consistent nationwide reductions, we can and will achieve ongoing emissions in a balanced manner that does not risk jobs or the supply of electricity in Illinois."

Research showing the calamitous effect of methylmercury on fetuses and young children has fueled efforts to cut mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants. The particularly toxic form can be created when smokestack exhaust falls into waterways.

"We have the opportunity to prevent unnecessary pollution and the unnecessary costs that come with it," said state Rep. Kathleen Ryg (D-Vernon Hills), the smokestacks of Waukegan's power plant visible in the background.
" We are here today to ask Gov. Blagojevich to prevent the unnecessary pollution."

Activists call on Governor to Clean up Power Plants that Unfairly Pollute
Neighborhoods Where Most Latinos Live
More than 9 out of 10 Latinos Live in Polluted Communities

A new report issued today in Chicago finds that nationally more than 7 out of 10 Hispanic Americans, or 71 percent are breathing air that violates federal pollution standards, even though Latinos comprise only13 percent of the population. The report, Air of Injustice: How Power Plant Pollution Affects the Health of Hispanics and Latinos, documents the effects of air pollution on Hispanic Americans, including health impacts of air pollution from power plants, the largest industrial sources of pollution. The report was released Thursday by a coalition including the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Illinois Public Interest Research Group, and Centro Comunitario Juan Diego, and was written by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Clear the Air.

The group claims the situation in Illinois is much worse. More than 9 out of 10 Latino Illinois residents live in areas that don't meet minimal health standards for air quality. More than 92 percent of Illinois Latinos live in the Chicago Metropolitan area, which fails to meet federal air quality standards for ozone smog and fine particulate matter soot. Over 93 percent of Latinos statewide live in areas that fail to meet health standards, even though Latinos make up only 12.3 percent of Illinois' population. Ozone smog can irritate and burn lung tissue, causing symptoms such as chest tightness, coughing and wheezing. It also triggers asthma attacks and makes breathing difficult for people who suffer from lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Fine particulate matter can worsen many of the same lung health problems, and is also associated with increased numbers of heart attacks and premature deaths. Both pollutants are responsible for increased hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

POWER PLANTS LARGELY TO BLAME
Not only are the vast majority of Latino residents living in areas that fail to meet minimal health standards, but they are also live in close proximity to the largest industrial sources of air pollution in Illinois, coal-fired power plants. Over 87 percent of Illinois Latinos live less than 30 miles from a power plant, the distance within which maximum impacts on human health are felt. Nationally, only 39 percent of the Latino population lives within that distance. Many thriving Latino neighborhoods are directly in the shadow of huge coal-fired power plants. Within Chicago, all neighborhoods that are more than 90 percent Latino, including Little Village, Pilsen and Humbolt Park, are all less than 5 miles from either Midwest Generation's Fisk or Crawford power plants on Chicago's West Side. Earlier this year, a major hospital health study indicated that as many as 27 percent of all school children in the Humbolt Park neighborhood suffer from asthma.

Within the Chicago region, a majority of communities that are 50 percent or more Latino are within 10 miles of a power plant. In greater Waukegan, >42 percent of all Latinos living in Lake County live less than four miles from the Midwest Generation's Waukegan Generating Station. In the Joliet area, >44 percent of Latinos in Will County live less than five miles from either Midwest Generation's Joliet 9 or Joliet 29 coal-fired power plants. None of these power plants in northern Illinois have "scrubbers", which would greatly reduce soot-forming pollution they emit. Only three out of 23 old coal-fired power plants in Illinois have such devices.

Power plant pollution can be dangerous, and even deadly. In 2001, a published report by researchers at the Harvard University School of Public Health indicated that emissions from nine coal-fired power plants in northern Illinois cause 320 premature deaths a year, and that the area of greatest health risk was on the southwest side of Chicago and in Cicero. Another study released in July utilized U.S. EPA's own methodology for calculating the health damage caused by power plant pollution and found that Illinois will continue to suffer over 1,350 premature deaths and nearly 34,000 additional preventable asthma attacks every year until power plant pollution is greatly reduced.

Latinos are more at risk of health problems because of air pollution from power plants. Nationally, the incidence of asthma in children of Latino mothers is two and a half times that of non-Latino white children. Over half of Latinos under the age of 65 do not have health insurance. Overall, Hispanics account for an alarming one-quarter of the nation's 74 million uninsured people. The increased exposure to air pollution makes Latino families more vulnerable to health problems associated with air pollutants such as low birth weight and asthma attacks. Factors such as poverty, language barriers and lack of access to health care increase the danger.

GOVERNOR'S PROMISE TO CLEAN UP POWER PLANTS
Coal fired power plants can and should be much less polluting. Unfortunately all 23 older coal fired power plants in Illinois are exempt from federal requirements to install the best pollution controls and have been from over 25 years. When he was running for office Governor Blagojevich said that he intended to set new long-term clean emission standards for dirty Illinois power plants, and had a plan to convert old, dirty coal plants to clean efficient ones that cut up to 98 percent of the pollution. The groups releasing the report called on the Governor to fulfill his campaign pledge to clean up older coal fired power plants, especially those that are unfairly harming the Latino community in the Chicago region. By the end of September 2004, state law requires the Illinois EPA to release a report on the need for tighter pollution caps on all coal-fired power plants. The groups called on Governor Blagojevich to enact state pollution rules that eliminate at least two-thirds of the smog and soot pollution and 90 percent of the toxic mercury from power plants by 2010. Such rules must result in significant reductions at all Chicago area power plants. They also called for the rules to ensure that more than 90 percent of all power plant pollution is eliminated in Illinois by 2020.

Recent years have seen attempts in Washington to weaken federal clean air laws. U.S. Environmental Protection data released yesterday show that some pollutants from coal-fired power plants, like sulfur dioxide, actually increased by 3 percent from 2002 to 2003 in Illinois.

"The Latino community suffers from the health threats associated with air pollution at epidemic proportions," said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health for the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. "All Americans deserve stronger safeguards to reduce pollution from the oldest and dirtiest power plants. But the hundreds of thousands of Hispanic Illinois residents who breathe dirty air are among those with the most to gain - and the most to lose if Governor Blagojevich fails to act."

"Our civil rights include the right to breathe healthy air, the right to raise healthy children, the right to challenge the companies that
pollute and petition the government charged with protecting us," said Dr. Howard Ehrman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization president. "LVEJO has been fighting for clean air and a clean environment for the last 5 years, and we are demanding Governor Blagojevich recognize the damage air pollution causes our families and implement real steps toward tighter limits on air pollution from the largest polluters."

This year, U.S. EPA designated 11 counties in Illinois as officially in " nonattainment" with the federal health standard for ozone smog, meaning that ozone levels in the air are high enough on a regular basis to cause health damage to people living and breathing in these areas. These counties are in the Chicago and East St. Louis metro areas, and are home to 8 million people. In June, U.S. EPA released a preliminary list of nonattainment areas for fine particles, which included all of the same counties, plus Randolph County. The state is required to submit and implement a plan to bring these areas into compliance with the federal smog and soot health standards, or will be subject to enforcement mechanisms under the Clean Air Act.

"Unfortunately, the Bush administration spent the last 3 years weakening federal rules regulating pollution from power plants," said Lara Melton, Environmental Field Organizer for Citizen Action-Illinois. She noted that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan had filed suit to invalidate Bush administration actions to allow power plants to emit more pollution. "The leadership that is sorely lacking at the federal level needs to be provided by our governor and our IEPA," she continued.

Ground-level ozone, or "smog," is a gas that is formed when nitrogen oxides from power plants and other sources mix with heat, sunlight and other chemicals in the air. Summertime smog can trigger asthma attacks, and reduce the long-term function of our lungs. "Fine particle soot" is comprised of microscopic particles that lodge in our lungs. Over the last decade medical research has found that exposure to these particles can cause serious heart and lung damage, and even premature death. Power plants are the largest industrial source of the pollutants that cause smog and soot formation in Illinois.

"Opponents of strong air emission controls will tell you that the air in Illinois is getting cleaner, but are the improvements anything worth bragging about?" said Melton. "We have cardiac patients, elderly, and children with asthma who turn on the news in the morning, wondering if they can go outside. Doctors will consider the air quality before discharging patients from the emergency room. In terms of the quality of life, where are the improvements?"

"Clearly we can celebrate the achievements of the Clean Air Act, which has dramatically reduced air pollution over the last 34 years," said Stanfield.
" However, these achievements should not be used as excuses for doing less to make our air safe to breathe. We can't afford to rest on our laurels or go backwards now, when thousands of people are experiencing asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death due to air pollution in Illinois each year.

EPA Wording Found to Mirror Industry's Influence
on Mercury Proposal Probed
By Juliet Eilperin - Washington Post Staff Writer - Wednesday, September 22, 2004; Page A29

For the third time, environmental advocates have discovered passages in the Bush administration's proposal for regulating mercury pollution from power plants that mirror almost word for word portions of memos written by a law firm representing coal-fired power plants.
The passages state that the Environmental Protection Agency is not required to regulate other hazardous toxins emitted by power plants, such as lead and arsenic. Several attorneys general, as well as some environmental groups, have argued that the Clean Air Act compels the EPA to regulate these emissions as well as mercury.
The revelations concerning language written by Latham & Watkins could broaden an ongoing probe by the EPA's inspector general into whether the industry had an undue influence on the agency's proposed mercury rule, legislative critics of the proposed rule said.
Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and one of the senators who called for the probe last spring, said the revelation that the EPA adopted the same wording as an industry source "no longer comes as much of a surprise."
" The Bush administration continues to let industry write the rules on pollution, and this is just one more example of how they abuse the public trust," he said.
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman would not comment on the connection between the law firm memo and the agency's proposal beyond saying that it is "a public document. It was publicly debated as part of the rulemaking process."
She added that pollutants such as lead and arsenic are not the central issue: "EPA continues to be most concerned with mercury. We will be regulating mercury emissions from power plants for the first time, and we will concentrate on the need to protect children and pregnant women."
Environmentalists have assailed the EPA for months arguing that the mercury rule, slated to be finalized next March, would not adequately curb a toxin that can enter the food chain through fish and cause developmental damage in infants and young children.
The rule, they said, does nothing to limit chromium, lead and arsenic pollution from utilities, all of which exceed mercury emissions and could pose a health threat.
" The big story here is the public health story; things like arsenic, lead and chromium are being released in very large quantities and pose a very serious health threat," said John Stanton, a senior lawyer for Clear the Air, an environmental coalition that spotted the similarities between the regulation's language and the industry memo.
The proposed regulation concludes that although the EPA determined in 2000 that arsenic, chromium and other metals are potential carcinogens, there is too much uncertainty to justify regulating them.
That conclusion is backed by two sections of the proposed rule that address whether the EPA is compelled to regulate non-mercury pollutants, an issue that first arose in 1990 when Congress rewrote sections of the Clean Air Act. At the time, Congress made an exemption for the utilities, saying the EPA should study whether it was both "appropriate and necessary" to regulate them. In 2000, in the waning months of the Clinton administration, the EPA concluded that utilities should be listed as a source of toxic emissions and regulated accordingly.
In light of the 2000 decision and past studies, EPA officials said they are obligated to regulate only mercury in coal-fired power plants and nickel in oil-fired plants. The nine attorneys general and two state environmental secretaries wrote the agency on June 28 saying the EPA is legally required to address other pollutants as well, citing a 2000 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The Aug. 5, 2002, memo from Latham & Watkins, submitted during the public comment period on the rule, said hazardous air pollutants other than mercury did not need to be regulated. It made multiple references to statements by Rep. Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio) that "Congress provided a distinct regulatory mandate for utility [hazardous emissions] because of the logic of basing any decisions to regulate on the results of scientific study and because of the emission reductions that will be achieved and the extremely high costs that electric utilities will face under other provisions of the new Clean Air Act amendments."
The EPA used nearly identical language in its rule, changing just eight words. In a separate section, the agency used the same italics Latham lawyers used in their memo, saying the EPA is required to regulate only the pollutants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act "after considering the results of the study required by this paragraph." The memo uses the word "subparagraph" instead of paragraph but is otherwise identical.
Latham lawyer Robert A. Wyman Jr., who authored the memo, declined to comment last week on grounds that the firm does not discuss client matters unless directed to do so.
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year on instances in which industry-written language had surfaced in the mercury proposal. A spokesman for the inspector general's office said its investigation of the issue should be done by early next year.

For Immediate Release: June 8, 2004
Contact: Ryan Canney 312-427-2114 x6 - Rebecca Stanfield 312-364-0096 - Brian Urbaszewski 312-628-0045

HEALTH, PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS TO UNVEIL NEW REPORT AND WEB SITE SHOWING HEALTH IMPACTS OF POWER PLANTS ON ILLINOIS RESIDENTS
New study links in-state air pollution to 2,361 heart attacks, 1,356 premature deaths in Illinois each year

Chicago - On WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2004, 10am at the Alivio Medical Center, advocates for public health and clean air will hold a press conference to release Dirty Air, Dirty Power - the new Clear the Air study and Web site that reveal, in unprecedented detail, the human cost of air pollution. The analysis, performed by EPA's own air quality consultants using EPA standard methodology, documents premature deaths, heart attacks, lung cancer deaths, asthma attacks, hospitalizations, and lost work and school days due to pollution from coal-fired power plants.

The report's Web site allows Illinois residents to find the power plants in their region and see the EPA's statistics about the harmful effects from dirty power. Additionally, Illinois residents can compare the differences among a variety of air pollution plans including the Clean Air Act and the Bush administration's plan. The Web site will also let the people of Illinois see-for the first time-the direct impact that power plants in their region have on their own lives.

WHO: Ryan Canney, Citizen Action/Illinois
Brian Urbaszewski, American Lung Association of Chicago
Rebecca Stanfield, Illinois PIRG
Dr. Sam Dorevitch, MD, MPH, University of Illinois-Chicago
Congressman Luis Gutierrez (invited)
Cook Co. Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (invited)

WHAT: Press conference to roll out Dirty Air, Dirty Power, a new Clear the Air report and Web site documenting mortality rates and health damage caused by local and regional power plant pollution.

WHERE: Alivio Medical Center, 966 W. 21st ST. (Morgan and 21st)
2nd Floor Conference Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 11, 2004
ILLINOIS EPA LAUNCHES CITIZEN E-COMPLAINT FORM ON WEB SITE
Will Speed Investigations of Environmental Concerns; Toll-Free Helpline Also Expands
Continues Governor Blagojevich's Efforts to Streamline Government
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.

Citizens will now be able to report pollution and other environmental concerns electronically, speeding up investigations by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. "Today we launched an Online Electronic Citizens Pollution Complaint Form available on our web page (www.epa.state.il.us) that will result in getting information more quickly to our field offices around the state for followup investigation," announced Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano.

The E-Complaint form will be acknowledged and forwarded to the appropriate regional office the same business day it is received online. Examples of complaints include open burning, dust and particles and industrial emissions, open dumping, hazardous waste, stream/lake pollution, illegal discharges into waterways, issues affecting drinking water and agricultural problems. While many of these complaints are now and likely will continue to be made directly by citizens to their nearest IEPA regional field office, the new E-Complaint system will provide a fast and efficient way to assist citizens and help address environmental problems before they become worse. The complainant's identity will be kept confidential unless they request otherwise.

Director Cipriano also noted that in tandem with the E-Complaints, environmental questions and complaints may also be made by phone through an expanded toll-free Environmental Helpline (1- 888-372-1996).

Examples of topics citizens may seek information about from Agency staff through the Helpline include potential pollutants in the home, such as asbestos, mercury, lead and hazardous waste, questions about local air quality and odors, trash burning, heating oil tanks, electronics recycling, quality of lakes and streams and potential environmental problems when purchasing property.

"These initiatives, along with recently making more information available on our web site on enforcement and status of cleanups, are part of fulfilling Governor Rod Blagojevich's commitment to renew and streamline state government to be more responsive to citizens," said Director Cipriano. "The Internet and technology improves communication and dialogue with the public."

LVEJO Staff, Volunteers, Independent Block Club Members and PUDDJ Participants along with Members of Life Directions attended a Tour of Midwest Generations Crawford Coal Power Plant on 34th & Pulaski over the Holiday Season.

LVEJO and residents from 30th & Avers hosted a block meeting to inform
and discuss with neighbors about air pollution from local industries.

Comments pertaining to the Title V permits for all the Midwest
Generation facilities are due by Sept. 28.
This includes the Fisk, Crawford, Waukegan, Will/Romeoville & Joliet etc.

These facilities (& Powerton) had over 4300 exceedences in opacity in 2002 until June 2003.
The public hearing comments are on line now.
Please reference all the plants on your comments.

Please send comments to:

Hearing Officer, Charles Matoesian
1021 N. Grand Ave. East, P.O. Box 19276,
Springfield Il. 62794-9276.

On Tuesday, August 12th the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization helped host the IEPA Title V Hearings in Little Village. Over 80 community residents attended to learn about what Title V Permits are, why the IEPA was looking for community input and to give there testimony in regards to the Crawford Coal Burning Power Plant Station getting it's Title V Permit.

RESIDENTS OF PILSEN AND LITTLE VILLAGE TO HAVE PUBLIC HEARINGS ON DEADLY POWER PLANT POLLUTION

For years the people of Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods have been sickened and killed by Midwest Generation's Crawford and Fisk power plants. These archaic coal plants emit toxic chemicals, soot, and smoke that result in approximately 41 premature deaths per year, not to mention 2800 asthma attacks and 550 visits to the emergency room according to a 2001 study by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The plants are both up for a Title V air pollution permit, granted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). These permits are designed to apply the rules of the Clean Air Act to the plants. However, these permits are not what they seem.

The current language in the permits require no decrease in Sulfur Dioxide or Particulate Matter from the giant boilers the plants run on. Sulfur Dioxide is the biggest problem of all criterion pollutants emitted by the power plants, according the American Lung Association. Particulate Matter is also extremely dangerous and long-term exposure to it can lead to potentially fatal lung and cardiopulmonary illness for Chicago residents, including diabetics.

The permits institute a series of cap-and-trade programs designed to lower certain types of emissions. However, due to the nature of these programs, the Crawford and Fisk plants will probably be unaffected. The plants are so old, California based Edison International, Midwest Generation's parent company, can reduce pollution for much less at newer power plants elsewhere and use the "pollution credits" built up from that activity to continue present emission levels at Crawford and Fisk.

However, the people of Pilsen and Little Village have an opportunity to try to change these permits to be more comprehensive. The IEPA has decided to have public hearings where residents can voice their concerns about the permits and their provisions. Community organizations in both neighborhoods are organizing around these hearings in order to help get the voices of the people heard.

CRAWFORD AND FISK POWER PLANTS ARE EMITTING HARMFUL SUBSTANCES INTO THE AIR OF PILSEN AND LITTLE VILLAGE!

WHAT DO THE POWER PLANTS EMIT?
Sulfur Dioxide
May result in: Bronchitis, increased Asthma attacks, increased Respiratory Tract Infections, increased cough , difficulty breathing, headaches, nausea, weakens defenses in the respiratory system, increases ozone dangers,
Also: Causes metals to corrode, can damage paint, stone and electrical equipment

Particulates (Soot)
May result in: Heart attacks, Lung Cancer, Stroke, Asthma, Pneumonia, Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis, Lung Disease*, Heart Disease*
Also: Lungs unable to defend against the particles; introduces toxins , heavy metals, lead, arsenic; mortality from above diseases increase between 4 and 8 percent per ten microns per cubic meter
(*Risk primarily from diabetics)

Mercury
May result in: Loss of motor skills, partial loss of senses (taste, touch)
Also: Human made sources of mercury (such as power plants) have increased its presence by a factor of two or three

Nitrogen Oxide
May result in: Smog, a harmful irritant to lungs and respiratory systems especially for asthmatics

Carbon Dioxide
Greenhouse Gas: Linked to global warming, respiratory irritant, asthma trigger

Are YOU or SOMEONE YOU KNOW affected by these chemical that have been linked to coal power plants like CRAWFORD AND FISK?

The time has come to act: we are so close! If you want Chicago's coal-fired power plant pollution to be reduced by up to 90% YOU HAVE TO ACT IN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS!!!
(read on for background and a sample letter)

Rumor has it that there MAY (finally) be a public hearing on the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance on June 30 at 11am at City Hall. Details about this hearing will hopefully be forthcoming.
This is a crucial time to help push members of the City Council's Environment Committee to feel the public pressure to actually conduct these hearings!

* Please write to and/or call your alderman and inform her/him that you'd like to see the Environment committee of the City Council hold a hearing for the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance. You can also ask them to co-sponsor this bill! Find your alderman here: http://www.ci.chi.il.us/CityCouncil/

* Please write to and/or call the members of the Environment committee. Please see the bottom of this article for who they are and their contact details.

* Please attend the public hearing!!! If you can attend, please confirm with Dorian Breuer and Juan Miguel Turnil (dbreuer@yahoo.com 312 850 4060 and lvejo@igc.org 773 762 6991) as soon as possible to confirm and for more information. These aldermen need to hear the public's views on the pollution from Coal-fired power plants!!

* learn more about it at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/clean_power or contact Dorian Breuer, 312 850 4060, dbreuer@yahoo.com and Juan Miguel Tunril, 773 762 6991, lvejo@igc.org

Background: This ordinance, if enacted, would reduce the toxic emissions from Chicago's 2 coal plants by 90% starting in 2006. In February, 2002 Chicago Ald. Ed Burke for the 14th ward proposed the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance. This legislation has languished for a year without a hearing in Mayor Daley's department of Environment while community, health and environmental groups have been pressing for its passage. If passed, this legislation would make Chicago one of the cleanest cities for coal power generation in the nation. The current emissions affect all Chicagoans: in a comprehensive 2001 study researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that 40 premature deaths occur every year due to the emissions from Chicago's coal plants alone, along with 550 emergency room visits and 2,800 asthma attacks.

During the last election, residents of 2 precincts in Pilsen and Little Village near the plants were asked in a referendum if they would like the Ordinance to pass: over 86% voted in favor!! It is time for the City to listen to the needs of its residents and to clean up Chicago's dirty air.

I am troubled to learn that the Crawford and Fisk power plants on the city's southwest side have been exempt from state-of-the-art pollution control requirements for nearly 25 years because of a loophole in the federal Clean Air Act.

To protect our health and environment, the city of Chicago should close this loophole. Crawford and Fisk are the largest sources of sulfur dioxide emissions in Chicago, and a recent Harvard University study links their air pollution to 50 premature deaths, 3000 asthma attacks, 500 emergency room visits and 100,000 respiratory symptoms annually.

Generating electricity for our homes and businesses should not shorten lives, trigger asthma attacks or send Chicagoan's to the hospital because we cannot breathe. The technologies for achieving modern emissions rates are available and affordable, and adding them at Crawford and Fisk should create little or no increase in electric rates thanks to deregulation.

For more than a generation, the federal government has exempted these plants from modern emissions limits. We can't "hold our breath" any longer waiting for this to change. The city can and should cleanup Chicago's coal power plants.

Please show your support for Ed Burke's proposed Chicago Clean Power Ordinance by co-sponsoring this ordinance. Another way to show support is to encourage members of the City Council's Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities to hold public hearings so that the views of the public can be known.

Here are the details of the Chicago City Council's Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities - Please contact them!!

CHAIRMAN: Virginia A. Rugai
19th Ward
Ward Office: 10444 S. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60643
Ward Phone: 773-238-8766
Fax: 773-238-9049
E-Mail: vrugai@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3072

VICE-CHAIRMAN: Shirley A. Coleman
16th Ward
Ward Office: 1249 W. 63rd Street
Chicago, IL 60636
Ward Phone: 773-918-1670
E-Mail: sacoleman@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3069

34th Ward
Alderman: Carrie M. Austin
Ward Office: 507 W. 111th St.
Chicago, IL 60628
Ward Phone: 773-928-6961
E-Mail: caustin@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 203
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6820

11th Ward
Alderman: James A. Balcer
Ward Office: 3659 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60609
Ward Phone: 773-254-6677
E-Mail: jbalcer@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 203
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6663

9th Ward
Alderman: Anthony Beale
Ward Office: 34 East 112th Place
Chicago, IL 60628
Ward Phone: 773-785-1100
E-Mail: abeale@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6838

14th Ward
Alderman: Edward M. Burke
Ward Office: 2650 W. 51st Street
Chicago, IL 60632
Ward Phone: 773-471-1414
E-Mail: eburke@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 302
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3380

24th Ward
Alderman: Michael D. Chandler
Ward Office: 4325 W. Roosevelt Rd.
Chicago, IL 60624
Ward Phone: 773-522-2400
E-Mail: mchandler@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 203
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-6839

43rd Ward
Alderman: Vi Daley
Ward Office: 735 W. Wrightwood
Chicago, IL 60614
Ward Phone: 773-327-9111
E-Mail: vdaley@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-3071

37th Ward
Alderman: Emma Mitts
Ward Office: 5344 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
Ward Phone: 773-745-2894
E-Mail: emitts@cityofchicago.org
City Hall Office: 121 N. Lasalle St.
Room 300
Chicago, IL 60602
City Hall Phone: 312-744-8019

Dirty Coal-Fired Power Plant Threatens
to Bring More Pollution to the Chicago Area

The dirty facts
•The Indeck Energy Corporation wants Governor Rod Blagojevich to give them a permit to pollute. Indeck is proposing to build a dirty coal-fired power plant in Elwood,Will County,just 55 miles south of the Chicago Loop. Thousands of tons of new pollution will be added to Chicago ’s already polluted air, jeopardizing the health of millions of families including 500,000 asthmatics.
•Air pollution levels in the Chicago area already violate federal health standards. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on more than 20 days last summer the smog levels were so high that the air was unsafe to breathe.
•Chicago is also the nation ’s asthma capital. With asthma rates soaring 30 to 40 percent above the national average, more Chicagoans die from asthma than in any other U.S. City.

• Illinois ’existing dirty coal plants are the state ’s largest sources of pollution. A 2002 Harvard study found that the nine existing, dirty coal plants in and around Chicago are responsible for 320 premature deaths and 21,500 asthma attacks, each year.
•These dirty coal-fired power plants are also Illinois ’s largest source of mercury pollution. Mercury has poisoned every lake, river, and stream in Illinois, so much so that there is a statewide advisory against eating fish. Not only does mercury poison our waterways, but studies link mercury to developmental disorders in children.
• Indeck ’s coal plant will add to the pollution from existing coal plants and so means more asthma attacks, more premature deaths, and more contaminated fish.

Indeck ’s dirty coal plant is bad for our economy and bad for our businesses

Increased health-care costs Each year,70,000 Chicago-area residents are rushed to the emergency room with an asthma-related emergency and 19,000 are hospitalized, at a cost of between $5,000 - $10,000 per visit. More air pollution means more hospitalizations, which in turn means higher insurance premiums for those of us fortunate enough to have health insurance and higher taxes for all of us to cover the costs for the uninsured.

Increased business costs: The Chicago area is under a federal timetable to meet stringent federal air quality standards. Indeck’s coal plant proposal to add thousands of tons of new pollution will mean that existing Chicago area businesses (and new businesses wishing to locate here) have to cut their pollution by buying and installing costly pollution controls.

Increased taxes: Indeck wants $50 million in subsidies to build this coal plant and pollute our air. Even if the state were not proposing to cut funding for education and health-care priorities, taxes should not be spent on projects that will hurt our communities.

Part of Indeck ’s coal plant would be constructed in the buffer zone designed to protect the 20,000-acre Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie – the only prairie of its type in the nation. Indeck also wants to fill and pave over our wetlands.

Don ’t be fooled by Indeck ’s claims of clean technology. Indeck’s dirty coal plant will pollute five-times more than a similar size coal plant proposed in Wisconsin. A power plant fired by natural gas would be 300 times cleaner, and a wind-powered project generates no pollution whatsoever. Compare the emissions of sulfur dioxide (causes acid rain), nitrogen oxide (causes smog), mercury, soot and carbon monoxide (1MW is enough electricity to power 1,000 homes:)

Critics dig in on coal plant - Opponents fear pollution from proposed facility
By Karen Mellen - Tribune staff reporter - May 18, 2003

In an attempt to revive Illinois' lagging coal-mining industry, Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to give $50 million in financial incentives to the builders of a coal-fired power plant on the former Joliet Arsenal, one that would burn Illinois coal and create mining jobs.

But environmentalists have come out against the proposed $1 billion facility, arguing that northern Illinois should not build another coal-burning plant because of the soot and pollution it would create. They say the technology proposed for the plant--a circulating, fluidized bed system--is not state of the art and releases too much pollution.

"It's not a smart move to have the state subsidizing that kind of technology that's just going to create a future problem for the state of Illinois," said Brian Urbaszewski of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

Indeck Energy Services Inc., based in Buffalo Grove, plans to build the plant to create electricity and sell it on the open market, likely for the industrial park proposed in the former Joliet Arsenal in Elwood. The plant would produce a maximum of 660 megawatts of electricity, which would make it one of the state's larger plants.

To receive financial benefits from the state, the company would burn coal mined in Illinois. The financial incentives include about $25 million in bonds that would be repaid by using sales tax revenue from buying Illinois coal, the governor's office said. Illinois coal has a high sulfur content, which causes more pollution when burned. Most Illinois power plants do not have the technology to burn Illinois coal and still meet federal air pollution standards, which were toughened in 1990. Those plants import coal with less sulfur, usually from the West. As a result, the number of coal-mining jobs in Illinois dropped to just over 4,000, down from about 18,000 workers in 1980, said Taylor Pensoneau, president of the Illinois Coal Association. This project would create about 200 coal-mining jobs in Illinois, according to Blagojevich's office. "In terms of Illinois coal, everything helps," Pensoneau said. "Two hundred jobs, in this day and age, are a sizable number in the Illinois coal industry."

The plant Indeck proposes turns coal into a sludge in which contaminants can be captured as a gas or solid. Dave Kolaz, chief of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's bureau of air, said that a plant using this technology would produce 20 percent of the air pollution that plants built 50 years ago now produce. Most of those older plants do nothing to stop the emission of sulfur dioxide, which can cause acid rain. Some use scrubbers, a solution of water and limestone, to capture the sulfur. Representatives from the EPA also said the proposed plant would fall within federal and state guidelines for emissions in the Chicago area. But Urbaszewski said that the people who would live or work near the power plant would be at a greater risk of health problems. That's because the fine particulate released into the environment from these plants causes respiratory problems.

He cited a Harvard School of Public Health study released in 2001 that concluded that nine coal-fired power plants in northern Illinois are linked yearly to 300 deaths, nearly 14,000 asthma attacks and 2,600emergency room visits. "We have unhealthy air right now, in the Chicago area, from two different kinds of pollution: ozone and fine particulates," Urbaszewski said. "About one-third of the fine particulates in the air of Chicago comes from sulfur, from coal-fired power plants." Other environmentalists said the proposed plant is not the best way to create electricity. Diane Brown, executive director of Illinois Public Interest Research Group, an environmental organization, said the group favors power plants that do not increase air emissions, no matter what the technology. Shift to cleaner fuel. "But we would prefer that instead of looking at reliance on coal in Illinois, a shift to cleaner energy fuel, such as wind and solar," she said.

Currently, coal is the fuel for about half of the electricity produced in Illinois. Because of this reliance on coal, other environmentalists said that if coal is used, the best technology should be implemented, and that is coal gasification. This method turns coal into a gas mixture using oxygen or steam, said Ronald Carty, director of the Illinois Clean Coal Institute of Southern Illinois University.

Depending on the cleanup process used, larger amounts of sulfur and mercury are removed, compared to other techniques, he said. In fact, the EPA agrees that gasification is the best hope for the future of coal-fired plants to limit air pollution. But EPA Director Renee Cipriano said that the technology has not yet proved reliable enough to be implemented commercially and the costs would be too high. Some estimates are that a gasification system would cost two or three times more. Other proposals sought "It's just not feasible at this location," Cipriano said, adding that she would like to see other proposals using the technology.

Jim Thompson, senior vice president of business development for Indeck, would not comment for this story. Coal industry officials, like environmentalists, advocate high-tech ways to change coal into electricity, such as gasification, because of their belief that cleaner techniques are the key to their future.

"It's a cleaner way to use coal, and it doesn't violate any environmental air-quality standard," Pensoneau said of coal gasification. "Money is usually the bottom line of every issue, at some point. And that's part of the issue here."

A public hearing on the proposed plant will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Elwood Community Church Hall, 101 N. Chicago St., Elwood.

Montreal, 7 May 2003 - The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has received a citizen submission asserting that Canada is failing to effectively enforce the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the federal Fisheries Act against Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) coal-fired power plants.

The attorneys general of the states of New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, along with 48 Canadian and United States nongovernmental organizations and two towns in New York State, filed the submission (SEM-03-001) with the CEC on 1 May 2003.

The submitters assert that emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from OPG's coal-powered facilities pollute the air and water downwind, in eastern Canada and northeastern United States. They assert that Canada is failing to effectively enforce sections 166 and 176 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which, they claim, obligate the Minister of the Environment to take action to address Canadian sources of pollution that he has reason to believe are causing air or water pollution in the United States. They also assert that Canada is failing to effectively enforce section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act against the OPG facilities. Section 36(3) prohibits the deposit of a deleterious substance into water frequented by fish or in any place under any conditions where the substance may enter such water.

The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), any person or nongovernmental organization may submit a claim alleging that a NAFTA partner has failed to effectively enforce its environmental law. Following a review of the submission, the CEC may investigate the matter and pursue a factual record of its findings.

Part of Clean Air Act Is Termed 'Widespread Failure' in Study
- By JOHN J. FIALKA - Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

WASHINGTON -- Calling part of the federal Clean Air Act a "widespread failure," the National Academy of Public Administration said the U.S. should regulate carbon dioxide and force the nation's dirtiest power plants to clean up or shut down within 10 years -- proposals that are at odds with Bush administration stances.

The focus of the report is the so-called New Source Review program, a measure implemented by Congress in 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act. It spared older, coal-fired power plants from having to comply with the law's tougher air-pollution controls unless they expanded or made major changes to their facilities.

The 1977 law, part of a compromise that enabled enactment of tougher pollution controls, has sheltered a substantial portion of the electric-power industry against tighter controls. The report said it has given the older "grandfathered" facilities an unfair competitive advantage over newer facilities.

Lawmakers requested the report from the academy, a nonprofit research institute chartered by Congress to give unbiased advice and that includes public managers, scholars and former cabinet officers.

"We say 25 years of this [exemption] is enough," explained DeWitt John, who sat on the eight-member panel that prepared the academy's report. "My personal view," said Mr. John, who is a professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, "is that to do otherwise would be to reward scofflaws."

The academy's report said that the Environmental Protection Agency and state and local air-pollution administrators tend to give utility owners "unfettered discretion" to decide whether the law applies to them, and that industry has used a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to avoid compliance. The EPA has a continuing effort to clarify and simplify the rules.

Jeffrey R. Holmstead, an assistant administrator of the EPA, called the academy's report "very useful," although it conflicts with two major elements of the Bush administration's approach to pollution control. The administration's proposed Clear Skies Act recommends tighter pollution controls, but would give power-plant owners until at least 2018 to comply.

According to the EPA, only 200 of the nation's 1,100 coal-fired generators have been required to meet New Source Review standards. Mr. Holmstead said the older plants are believed to cause a "significant" part of the nation's most serious pollution problem, caused by the emissions of fine particles of soot from coal-fired plants in the Midwest and Eastern U.S.

Both the academy and the administration's proposal would replace plant-by-plant regulation with a so-called cap-and-trade program that would impose overall cuts on emissions and then allow companies to trade emissions credits. Plants that reduced emissions below required caps would have pollution permits to sell to others, which might have to buy them to qualify older facilities.

Mr. Holmstead said the administration wants the longer period to give utilities more time to make the expensive changeovers without disrupting electricity supplies. It also wants to give utilities more time to explore cleaner coal-burning technologies in order to prevent too much U.S. dependence on generation fired by natural gas, which Mr. Holmstead noted is in increasingly short supply.

New Source Review has led to a morass of enforcement and investigative actions. Currently, according to the EPA, plants representing more than 80% of the electric-utility industry are under either federal or state investigation. On Monday, the Justice Department and EPA announced a $1.2 billion settlement with Virginia Electric Power Co., which was charged with making major modifications to some of its power plants without applying for New Sourc