Coalition of conservation, health and justice groups demand answers about Peabody’s pollution impacts

Today, a coalition of health and conservation groups filed a second appeal of Peabody Energy’s air pollution permit for its proposed Prairie State Generating Station (PSGS). The appeal was filed with the Environmental Appeals Board of the US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC.

This is the second time that the state has issued Peabody a construction permit. The first permit the state issued in January 2005 was remanded because the state failed to consider the extensive public comments it had received from the public before issuing the final permit. Calling the omission “neither harmless inconsequential or trivial”, the Environmental Appeals Board instructed the state to reconsider and reissue the permit after due consideration of comments received.

IEPA consequently reissued the permit to Peabody Energy on April 28, 2005.

“The Blagojevich Administration had a second chance to side with public health advocates and require Peabody to use state-of-the art pollution controls,” said Verena Owen, Chair of the Sierra Club Clean Air Campaign. “They failed. The new permit allows Peabody to violate federal air quality standards, rejects consideration of clean energy choices and even rejects less-polluting coal gasification technology.”

The permit challenged by the health and conservation groups authorizes would allow Peabody to emit:

• 280 pounds of mercury annually -- a toxic heavy metal that can cause brain damage to a developing fetus, babies and young children and is already at harmful levels in every Illinois lake, river and stream;
• More than 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide annually -- a pollutant that creates haze, acid rain and fine particles that contribute to cardiac and respiratory diseases;
• More than 4,000 tons of nitrogen oxides annually -- a pollutant that causes smog, acid rain, and contributes to asthma attacks and other breathing problems;
• Millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually -- the primary greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, at levels comparable to the oldest coal plant in Illinois

Air pollution is a serious problem in Illinois and Missouri, particularly in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. “We were hoping that the Blagojevich Administration would require Peabody to protect public health and provide clean, safe energy sources that don’t threaten Missouri and Illinois residents,” said Jill Miller, Conservation Organizer for the Sierra Club in St. Louis. “We are very disappointed that the Administration is allowing Peabody to dump more mercury contamination into our rivers and cause more of our children to suffer from asthma attacks,” she added.

“This year, U.S. EPA declared that two thirds of all Illinois residents are living in areas that fail to meet minimal health standards for airborne fine particulate soot,” said Brian Urbaszewski of the American Lung Association of Chicago. “Illinois’ failure to require Peabody to minimize air pollution emissions will mean thousands of tons of additional tiny soot particles will be pumped into the air we all breathe. Such particles lodge deep in our lungs where they trigger asthma attacks, increasing emergency room visits for breathing problems, and even the number of premature deaths.”

“It is truly a shame that it falls on citizen groups to protect the health of our children and seniors from companies that seem not to care how much pollution they put into the air or water. That should be the job of our environmental protection agencies and elected officials. They are failing miserably," said Kathy Andria of American Bottom Conservancy.