Explore our content

All types | All dates | All authors
Coal power
Quick Hit
by Aricka Flowers
1:56pm
Thu Jan 17

Latino Groups Call On President, EPA To Address Carbon Pollution Standards

The National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC) is calling on President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address air pollution and the health hazards associated with it.

The group sent a letter to the President and the EPA asking for stronger carbon emission standards for coal-fired power plants. The coalition noted that the Latino community is especially vulnerable to such emissions since half of its U.S. population lives in counties where there are violations in clean air standards. 

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Steven Ross Johnson
5:51pm
Tue Jan 15

Snowless In Chicago: The Political Side Of The Warm Winter Season

A winter season that has thus far been defined by a record number of snowless days and unseasonably warm temperatures has experts, advocates and some of Illinois’ newly-elected congressional lawmakers raising concerns over the kind of impact such conditions will ultimately have on the environment.

At 320 days, Chicago broke a 72-year record last week for the consecutive number of days without an inch of snowfall, the impact of which has already resulted in record low water levels in Lake Michigan and parts of the Mississippi River, according to Natural Resources Defense Council spokesman Josh Mogerman.

“There’s a new normal, and we have to start being cognizant of the change going on around us,” Mogerman said. “There are things going on around us right now in this moment that are really clear and clarion calls for paying attention and making clear that climate change has already begun and we need to address it.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
2:39am
Wed Nov 7, 2012

Enyart Secures Win To Represent Southwest Illinois

Democrat Bill Enyart will take over for retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello in Illinois’ 12th congressional district.

As of 1:00 a.m. this morning, Enyart had a commanding 50 percent to 44 percent lead over Republican challenger Jason Plummer. Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw pulled in six percent of the vote.

While the AP gave the race to Enyart and the candidate declared victory, Plummer gave a speech at 10:20 p.m. where he did not concede. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Brandon Campbell
11:50pm
Tue Nov 6, 2012

Enyart Wins 12th Congressional District Race

 

Shortly after election polls closed Progress Illinois checked in on the candidates in Illinois’ 12th Congressional District, where the race turned nasty through political mudslinging in the final days. The AP is calling the race for Democrat Bill Enyart.

In the far-south district, where issues like coal power and personal finances dominated the candidates’ campaigns, the race has been so close it’s been listed as a “Tossup” by the New York Times.

Read more »

PI Original
by Matthew Blake
5:55pm
Thu Nov 1, 2012

Personal Bios, Coal Define 12th Congressional District Race

With five days left until the election, Illinois’ close 12th congressional district race has fallen into political mudslinging, with Republican Jason Plummer raising a fuss over the public pension of Democratic opponent Bill Enyart’s wife. Recent rhetoric aside, the race has focused on a Southwest Illinois economy long reliant on downstate’s coal basin.

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
5:30pm
Mon Sep 24, 2012

Environmentalists Disquieted By Ameren Pollution Reprieve

In 2006, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich heralded a major environmental compromise with Ameren for which the St. Louis energy company would spend $1.6 billion to reduce mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in their Illinois coal-fired power plants.

Today, environmentalists fear that deal is in jeopardy after the Illinois Pollution Control Board granted Ameren a five-year extension Thursday for meeting new sulfur dioxide pollution standards. The company now has until 2020, instead of 2015, to meet the standards through installing pollution control equipment at their 1,186-megawatt plant in Newton.

Ameren contended that the double whammy of the economic downturn and lower electricity rates caused by the rise in natural gas competitors forced a delay in compliance. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Steven Ross Johnson
1:08pm
Fri Aug 17, 2012

Health Care Community Pushes Back Against Ameren's Attempt To Stall On Emissions Reductions

Education and health professionals joined environmental advocates this week to call on state officials to deny a request from downstate power provider Ameren to delay compliance with more stringent pollution-control regulation of its coal-fired power plants.

In a letter addressed to members of the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), 96 physicians, researchers and healthcare professionals urged the body to uphold standards that would require coal-fired plants to significantly reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by January 1, 2015.   

Read more »