August 2018
Edwards Coal-Fired Power Plant Air Pollution Permit Hearing Sept. 19th, 7 p.m. in Pekin
Your chance to speak out about concerns for better area air quality and protection of your health and that of your family and friends is Wednesday, September 19th, 7 p.m. at the Miller Senior Center, 551 South 14th Street, Pekin. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will hold a CAAPP (Clean Air Act Permit Program) public hearing regarding the Edwards Power Station, which is one of the state’s dirtiest operating coal-fired power plants. This plant does not have up-to-date scrubbers and pollution controls and should be required to install current technology if it is to continue operating. If you or a family member or friend has asthma or other breathing problems that are aggravated by poor air quality, your voice is needed.
The Edwards Power Station was built in 1960 and is a 585 MW electric generating plant on the west bank of the Illinois River across from Pekin. The pollution from the Edwards plant has a significant impact on human health. Emissions from this plant include dangerous pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and mercury. These emissions can cause irritation of the throat and lungs, leading to difficulty breathing, increased asthma symptoms, more respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease.
Pollution from the Edwards plant affects the Illinois River and area water resources. Just one gram of mercury is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake making fish unsafe to eat. In 2014 the Edwards power plant reported discharges of 45 pounds of mercury. When mercury from a coal power station falls into waterways, it accumulates in plants, organisms and fish up the food chain. Mercury is neurotoxic and can cause serious developmental impairment in fetuses and children, and at higher concentrations it can damage the nervous system and organs of adults. The popularity of fishing near the Edwards coal plant puts Central Illinois area residents in direct risk of ingesting mercury.
The federal EPA ECHO (Environmental Compliance History Online) data for 2014 shows Edwards released 16,555,307 pounds sulfur dioxide and 8,259,280,000 pounds carbon dioxide into the air. Hundreds of pounds of other pollutants are detailed on the report, including lead, manganese, arsenic, sulfuric acid, and other chemicals of concern.
Central Illinois residents also pay the price for coal pollution through their medical bills. In 2010 the Clean Air Task Force released their “Toll from Coal” report calculating health effects of pollution from coal plants. Using 2010 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the report concluded that pollution from the Edwards plant contributed annually to: 110 Asthma Attacks, 7 Premature Deaths, 10 Heart Attacks, 4 Incidences of Chronic Bronchitis, and 7 Asthma ER Visits.
In March, 2013, the United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) declared a portion of Peoria and Tazewell Counties as being in nonattainment with the national sulfur dioxide air quality health standard. This designation means that here in Central Illinois, residents breathe some of the dirtiest air in the state. Within the boundaries of this non-attainment area lays the Edwards coal-fired power plant, a massive emitter of sulfur dioxide pollution due to its lack of modern pollution control technology. The Duck Creek Power Plant near Canton and the Powerton Plant south of Pekin both have more current pollution controls than Edwards.
For more information about this hearing and what you can do, contact Ryan Hidden, Organizing Representative, Sierra Club, 309-265-8057.