NRG’s Waukegan Coal Plant: Nearly A Decade Polluting Lake County Without A Permit
ZION, Ill.–(ENEWSPF)–September 2, 2015. Tonight, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) heard from an estimated 200 Lake County residents demanding stronger air protections from New Jersey-based NRG Energy’s Waukegan coal-fired power plant. Originally built in 1923 and currently using boilers over 50 years old, the plant’s two outdated operating units burn coal and pollute Lake County. The Waukegan coal plant has polluted for nearly a decade without a basic operating permit required by the Federal Clean Air Act.
“Lake County residents play by the rules and want the best for their health, but NRG’s Waukegan plant has been polluting without even the most basic required permit for nearly a decade”,” said lifelong Waukegan resident MaryFran Troha. “Waukegan has been a dumping ground for polluting corporations for far too long – it’s time for the Illinois EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act and set clear, strong limits on the pollution that NRG’s smokestacks put in our air every day.”
The Federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 that require large sources of air pollution like NRG’s Waukegan plant obtain a permit for its health-threatening pollution.. The permit is supposed to include monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting on emissions from the plant, and offer citizens the right to enforce limits if they are violated.
The IEPA issued an initial Title V Operating Permit for the Waukegan coal plant in February of 2006, but the former owner Midwest Generation appealed the permit, challenging certain legal and monitoring requirements. The permit was then “stayed” in its entirety and has not taken effect due to Illinois’ administrative review process. As a result, the Waukegan coal plant has been spewing health-threatening pollution into Lake County’s air without clear limits that local residents and health officials could monitor and enforce.
While the Waukegan plant has been polluting without a permit for nearly a decade, limits on other major polluters have steadily been strengthened to protect public health. Unfortunately, in July 2015, IEPA proposed outdated pollution limits that do not reflect the latest legal requirements. As drafted, the permit only includes operating requirements with state and federal laws up to 2006, leaving out critical standards that have happened since, including:
Multi-Pollutant Standard, 2006 (Illinois)
Clean Air Inter-State Rule, 2015 (Federal)
Updates to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (1-Hour SO2, NOx)
“As drafted now, the Waukegan coal plant’s Title V operating permit is outdated and insufficient to protect public health,” said Faith Bugel, attorney representing the Sierra Club. “We are concerned that through the appeal process, NRG has attempted to weaken the requirements for monitoring and reporting of polluting emissions that are needed protect Waukegan and communities across Lake County. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency must resist those efforts of NRG and also update the permit to include critical air quality standards issued since 2006.”
The NRG plant, a large source of carbon pollution in Lake County, was named one of the nation’s worst environmental justice offenders in a 2012 NAACP report. More than 62,000 people live within 3 miles of the Waukegan coal plant. 76 percent are Latino and African American and 49 percent are low-income residents.
“For nearly a decade, the people of Waukegan and Lake County have been breathing polluted air while this coal plant operates without a license,” said Cynthia Springfield with the Lake County Branch of the NAACP. “Tonight we call on the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies to put our health first, and issue an up-to-date permit for the Waukegan plant that adequately protects Lake County families.”
Source: www.sierraclub.org
