Award Goes to Clean Power Coalition

On September 20, 2012, the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) gave its Leadership Award to the Chicago Clean Power Coalition for its work to close Chicago’s two coal-fired power plants. These plants were two of the dirtiest in the country, and called out by the NAACP in their report “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People” as two of the worst environmental justice offenders of all 431 coal plants surveyed in the country.

Pam Richart, Eco-Justice Collaborative (EJC), and Christine Nannicelli, Sierra Club, accepted the award on behalf of the Coalition. EJC initiated the work that led to the creation of the coalition in 2009.

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Coal Education with Tax $$ Doesn’t Add Up

This week, June 19-22, Illinois grade school teachers will gather at the Rend Lake Resort near Mount Vernon for the 15th annual Coal Education Conference sponsored by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Each year, IDCEO spends up to $70,000 for this all-expense-paid teachers’ retreat. While our children’s teachers deserve to be recognized for their dedication and hard work, this particular retreat is nothing more than a corporate ploy to advance the coal industry’s “clean coal” message through grade school lesson plans at taxpayer expense.

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Women & Climate Justice Tribunal

EJC is partnering with UN affiliates and Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment to bring a women’s climate justice tribunal to Chicago. This tribunal – a mock trial – will highlight impacts on women and their communities realized from living with air pollution generated by MW Generation’s coal plants in Joliet and Romeoville and the dumping of toxic coal ash by MW Generation in a nearby unlined quarry. The tribunal also will highlight the importance of cleaning up heavily polluted sites after power plants are closed, using MW Generation’s Fisk and Crawford as examples.

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