Posts tagged illinois
Stories about America's second-largest waste stream.
Ameren offers plan for Illinois coal ash ponds: http://bit.ly/ZEDeyb via @STLtoday #coalash
llinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a complaint Monday against Ameren Energy Generating Co. alleging that it illegally disposed of 180,000 tons of coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal.
The complaint comes as Ameren Missouri is looking to the state of Missouri to approve construction of a controversial coal ash landfill at the utility’s Labadie power plant in Franklin County. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also weighing two proposed rules to regulate coal ash for the first time.
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But “unlike the coal plants in Illinois, there is no groundwater monitoring installed at Ameren’s Missouri coal plants,” he said.
Two Southern Illinois congressmen are teaming up to promote the region’s coal in Washington, D.C.
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Both lawmakers said they will work to advance bipartisan coal ash legislation that passed the U.S. House in 2012, as well as other similar legislation that promotes use of the region’s coal supply.
“Residents Ask I.E.P.A. to Deny Water Permit for Prairie State Power Plant: Coal ash landfill, water pollution, and nuisance dust top list of concerns,” Prairie River Network.
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At an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency public hearing in Marissa on Thursday, local residents and environmental advocates called on the Agency to deny the permit to discharge water pollution for the Prairie State coal fired power plant in Washington County.
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“I disagree with Prairie State that the plant is having no effect on surrounding properties,” said Ramona Vonderhaar, who lives downstream of the power plant. “The release of additional water into area streams from the plant has already led to blockages and flooding on our property, and the dust and the noise have been serious issues as well.”
/endsnip
Coal Ash Landfills Pose Problems Near Joliet, Nationally
One of their biggest concerns is the Will County Generating Station coal plant, owned by the company Midwest Generation, about a mile from Rendulich’s and Burnitz’s homes. Midwest Generation also runs a coal plant about 10 miles away in Joliet and two others in Illinois. The plants emit particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants dangerous to public health. And in ponds on-site, they store coal ash – the residue from burning coal to generate electricity. Coal ash, which can include “scrubber sludge” that collects in pollution removal equipment, contains high levels of toxic metals, salts and chemicals that can contaminate rivers, lakes and groundwater, including drinking water. People can also suffer serious health effects from inhaling airborne coal ash.
Watershed Victory Against Big Coal Nears in Illinois
Coal plant owner faces new heat Complaints allege toxic chemicals leaking from waste ponds
Excerpt:
Environmental groups said they filed their complaint against Midwest Generation to ensure the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency follows through on its own legal action. The EPA this summer sent notices to Midwest Generation and two other power companies, Ameren and Dynegy, citing multiple violations at ash ponds for nine of the state’s coal plants.
The infrastructure that supports the Internet, online commerce and nearly all corporate data services is engaged in a vast migration eastward in search of energy prices cheaper than anything available in Silicon Valley, where the digital revolution began, according to a report released Tuesday by the environmental group Greenpeace.
Internet companies often cloak themselves in an image of environmental awareness. But some companies that essentially live on the Internet are moving facilities to North Carolina, Virginia, northeastern Illinois and other regions whose main sources of energy are coal and nuclear power, the report said. The report singles out Apple as one of the leaders of the charge to coal-fired energy.
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“They are very brand-conscious companies,” Mr. Cook said. “They want to be presenting themselves as responsible and innovative.” He added that the companies “don’t want people to be concerned about, when they post their videos, that that’s somehow attached to coal.”
In fact, coal accounts for about half the generation capacity of the electric utility that powers an enormous data center in Maiden, N.C., that Apple recently opened, and some industry analysts think the center will be expanded. Nuclear power accounts for the large majority of the rest of that capacity, according to figures supplied by the utility, Duke Energy.
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Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple, added that the company is building two large projects intended to offset energy use from the grid in North Carolina: an array of solar panels and a set of fuel cells.
Also from Greenpeace:
(Source: The New York Times)
