Sierra Club joins Peoria citizens in urging EPA to address permit inadequacies

Community members from Peoria, Illinois and Sierra Club legal advocates appealed to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, arguing that the state’s permitting for coal power plants is inadequate to protect citizens from air pollution.

“Peoria is a community that has been plagued by air pollution for decades, and the operating permit currently under review for NRG’s Powerton coal plant falls short in ensuring our community will be protected from pollution violations that we know will occur,” Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste’s Tracy Fox said.

The coal plant in Powerton – along with 21 others – had been operating for more than a decade without a permit, which is an important tool in monitoring and reporting pollution emissions. Now that the permit has been issued, concerned citizens and the Sierra Club are insisting that it falls short due to weakened requirements, including longer allowances for the plant to exceed set pollution limits when starting up, shutting down and malfunctioning.

“While we are pleased to see action from the agency in issuing these long-overdue permits, the permits still fall short of current legal standards necessary to protect communities across Illinois,” Sierra Club Attorney Faith Bugel said.