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Appeals Board Strikes Down Coal Plant Permit: Orders State to Consider Stronger Health Protections

Chicago, IL - In a major ruling for clean air and clean energy, the U.S. EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) in Washington, DC has struck down the air permit for a large coal-fired power plant Indeck-Energy had proposed to build fifty miles south of the Chicago Loop. The ruling came in response to a 2003 appeal filed by a coalition of public health and conservation groups who argued that the permit did not protect public health and increased Illinois’ reliance on dirty coal. In its ruling the Board held that the State had failed to ensure that the proposed coal plant installed modern pollution controls and protect the adjacent Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. 

The proposed Indeck-Energy coal plant long been mired in controversy since it was first announced. When Illinois EPA issued the draft permit in 2003, a broad coalition of national and local groups urged the state to consider cleaner, safer options for electricity generation. Local residents testified that the plant threatened the adjacent Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, the nation’s first protected prairie. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley weighed in, urging the State to consider cleaner technologies as a way to protect downwind Chicago residents. When the State rejected these concerns and issued the project an air permit in October 2003, a coalition of groups including American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, Clean Air task Force, Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE), Lake County Conservation Alliance and Sierra Club appealed the permit. 

“This ruling presents a great opportunity for Illinois to abandon its current plans to subsidize the construction of out-dated coal plants, and instead move towards a clean energy future that harnesses safe and affordable energy options, including new wind farms and large investments in energy efficiency,” said Verena Owen, Chair of Sierra Club’s Clean Air Campaign in Illinois. 

The proposed Indeck power plant would have been the largest new source of global warming emissions and deadly air pollution in the Chicagoland area in decades. The plant would have emitted approximately 5 million tons of carbon dioxide, the primary cause of global warming, and over 10,000 tons a year of air pollutants that can cause cancer, respiratory disease, neurological defects, and premature deaths. 

“At a time when EPA’s own scientists are calling for significant reductions in air pollution to prevent avoidable deaths and protect public health, the last thing we should be building in the Chicago area is a new dirty coal power plant that would make our existing air pollution woes worse,” said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health for the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. The Chicago area still fails to meet the federal health-based air quality standards set in 1997.

"The decision also allows Illinois EPA to consider new and better information for controlling emissions," said John Thompson of the Clean Air Task Force, ”Illinois EPA should carefully examine vastly cleaner technology, such as coal gasification, that has gained wider acceptance since the original permit was issued."