Chicago, IL: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago has sided with Sierra Club and rejected Enviropower’s lawyers’ pleas to build a massive and already-outdated coal plant proposed for Southern Illinois. The ruling effectively ends Enviropower’s seven-year effort to build the plant without modern pollution controls.

After first losing in the trial court, Enviropower hired Alan Dershowitz, a high-profile criminal defense lawyer, to make its case before the court of appeals. 

“Today is a great victory for clean air and clean energy,” said Verena Owen, a leader with the Sierra Club.  “We can all breathe a little easier and get to work building the clean energy future that will put us on the path to real economic recovery.”

Today’s ruling affirmed a 2006 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Phil Gilbert of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois that had halted all construction on the proposed Enviropower coal plant in Franklin County, Illinois. The appeals court agreed that federal law does not allow Enviropower to “construct today’s facilities with yesterday’s technology.”  

“Since EnviroPower received its air permit seven years ago there have been significant technological advances. We now know that we can meet our energy needs without burning coal and without accelerating global warming,” said Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. “We can meet our energy needs and create family-supporting jobs with smart investments in solar, wind and energy efficiency.” 

Since 2001 there has been a rush to build as many as 170 coal plants across the United States, and Illinois has been at the center of this activity. In 2005 there were as many as 17 out-dated coal plants proposed for Illinois. Today only three projects remain. One of these projects is going forward after Sierra Club and the City of Springfield agreed to a comprehensive mix of energy investments, including investments in wind and energy efficiency, and the closing of two existing coal units. As coal plant proposals have declined, Illinois has instead seen a surge in clean energy investments. Since 2001 the state has added nearly 1,000 megawatts of wind power, and another 10,000 megawatts are being planned. 

Nationwide 70 proposed coal plants have been defeated or abandoned, and more than sixty projects are currently being opposed by Sierra Club and its allies. “Coal is expensive and unsafe,” said Nilles. “American ingenuity has developed clean and affordable ways to power our homes, and we can and must move quickly to wean ourselves off of coal.”     

Sierra Club is represented in this litigation by Lester Pines and Kira Loehr, of the Madison, Wisconsin law firm of Cullen Weston Pines & Bach, LLP.