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Coalition appeals Peabody’s permit to foul Illinois and Missouri skies

Families, business, and wildlife would bear the burden of pollution from dirty coal plant

St. Louis, MO: Today, a coalition of environmental organizations announced their appeal of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy’s air pollution permit for its proposed Prairie State coal plant. The permit, issued in mid-January by the Illinois EPA, would allow the 1,500 megawatt facility to emit more than 25,000 tons of pollution annually. The appeal was filed with the Environmental Appeals Board of U.S. EPA in Washington, D.C.

“In the march toward improved air quality, Peabody’s plant is a step backward,” said Jill Miller, conservation organizer for the Sierra Club in St. Louis, Missouri. “The plant is dirtier than other proposed new coal plants in the region and will put communities in southern Illinois and St. Louis at risk. The Department of Interior has concluded its emissions will even harm Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Missouri.”

The permit challenged by the environmental groups would allow Peabody to emit up to:

• • 280 pounds of mercury, a toxic heavy metal that can cause brain damage to a developing fetus, babies and young children;
• 11,866 tons a year of sulfur dioxide, which creates haze, acid rain and fine particles that contribute to cardiac and respiratory diseases;
• 4,564 tons of nitrogen oxides, which causes smog, acid rain, and fine particle pollution;
• 7,824 tons of carbon monoxide;
• carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, at a rate comparable to older coal plants in Illinois.

“Air pollution in the St. Louis metropolitan area is already a problem and Peabody’s dirty coal plant would make the situation much worse,” said Kathy Andria of American Bottom Conservancy, which is based in East St. Louis. “Nearly 300,000 children in Illinois suffer from asthma, and the rate in the St. Louis Metro area is double the national average.”

The plant would be sited in Washington County, IL, just 1.8 miles outside the non-attainment boundary for ozone and smog in metropolitan St. Louis, designations issued in 2004 by U.S. EPA. Existing businesses would bear the burden of Peabody’s pollution, while businesses considering locating in the St. Louis metro area could be scared off.

“Peabody’s sulfur dioxide emission rate is five times higher than another proposed coal plant just two counties away,” said John Thompson, Advocacy Coordinator for the Clean Air Task Force, a national environmental organization. “Better pollution controls exist, and Peabody’s competitors are proposing to use them. Peabody’s permit is a mistake and a bad precedent.”

Organizations appealing the permit include the American Bottom Conservancy, American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Clean Air Task Force, Lake County Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club and Valley Watch. For a copy of the appeal, contact Bruce Nilles at (608) 257-4994.