Mayor Rahm Emanuel has put Chicago's two coal power plants
on warning: Either present a plan to clean up their pollution or risk being
shut down by the city within the next two years. Various politicians, community groups and
others have been pushing for more than a year to shut down the Crawford and
Fisk plants - owned and operated by Midwest Generation - because they say the
plants come with serious health consequences.
Alderman Danny Solis and Dr. Ravi Shah are among those who
have spoken out against the plants. According to Shah, the coal-fired power
plants such as theirs are the largest generators of the greenhouse gases
associated with respiratory problems. Solis,
was called out by his opponent by his initial reluctance to support the
ordinance that would limit the plants' dangerous emissions of soot and carbon
dioxide.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said
that Emanuel has urged Midwest Generation to "clean up the two plants,
either by installing the necessary infrastructure to dramatically reduce the
pollution they emit or by converting to a clean fuel." If an agreement is
not reached, the mayor will reportedly join the call for the plants' shutdown. The mayor's call for the plants to clean up
their act comes a week after the Chicago Clean Power Coalition demonstrated
inside City Council chambers, urging Emanuel to "finish the work he has
begun, and to not delay any further."
Both plants were built more than 100 years ago and generate
emissions that would violate the federal Clean Air Act of 1977 - except that
both were grandfathered in under that law.
Late last month, the plants were identified by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency as the city's biggest industrial sources of pollution. In
2010, the two plants reportedly pumped 4.2 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere, according to the EPA.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/rahm-emanuel-tells-chicag_n_1294246.html?ir=Green
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/rahm-emanuel-tells-chicag_n_1294246.html?ir=Green
No comments:
Post a Comment