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Join EJC for the Women and Climate Justice Tribunal
Joliet, Illinois

Stand beside women in Chicago affected by coal plant pollution for the second of two tribunals held in the US on Women and Climate Justice. Help render a verdict on the impacts of coal pollution in Chicago on women, their families and their communities! Will you join us?

When:   Sunday, June 10, from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Where:  Sacred Heart Church, 329 S Ottawa St, Joliet, IL

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.

Experts will frame each case.  Women will share their experiences and stories, judges will render a verdict along with recommendations that will be taken to Rio.


Click here to download this flier in Spanish

What is a Tribunal?
Historically, tribunals of opinion have been used to create a public space for people to draw attention to critical issues at local, national and global levels. At tribunals, individuals directly affected by a specific situation can present testimony; raise awareness; and advocate for fundamental human rights and policy change.

Expert Witnesses
Brian Urbaszewski, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
Brian Perbix, Prairie Rivers Network
Jerry Mead-Lucero, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization

Jurists
Marta Benavides, Human Rights Activist, El Salvador
Jacqui Patterson, NAACP’s Climate Justice Initiative
Kelly Mitchell, Greenpeace

Partners:
Loretto Community at the UN
Feminist Task Force
Eco-Justice Collaborative
Citizens Against Ruining the Environment
Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization

Background for Chicago Tribunal
Women from Pilsen and Little Village who have been breathing air from two of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants in the nation and, through recent grass-roots efforts, helped bring about their closure.  The plants were rated #1 (Crawford) and #3 (Fisk) by the NAACP as the worst environmental justice offenders out of 431 coal plants reviewed nationwide.  Although the plants will close by the end of this year, properties remain toxic and polluted.

Women from the Joliet and Lockport area who have been working for 20 years to call attention to and stop the pollution from two area coal plants and the quarry waste disposal site.  They, too have been breathing harmful emissions from two polluting coal fired power plants in Will County; one of these plants is in Romeoville and the other is  in Joliet.  They are both grandfathered under the Clean Air Act and since 1996 the Joliet facility has been exempt from the IL Class 1 Groundwater Standards. This Joliet facility also ranks in the top 40 for contaminated sites in the United States.

Also, women in the historic African-American Smiley subdivision live next to an unlined coal ash landfill known as Lincoln Stone Quarry.  Coal ash and slag has been dumped in this quarry since 1962. Since 1995 the IL Environmental Protection Agency has been aware that this landfill is the source of toxic contaminates and heavy metals such as ”arsenic” which have already been detected off site. They also know there is a strong indication that these contaminates and toxic metals can potentially impact drinking water.

All facilities are owned by Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of Edison Mission Group, a holding company which acts through numerous subsidiaries to manage the competitive power generation business and other unregulated subsidiaries of Edison International.

Resources from the May 10 Tribunal
In Appalachia


Loretto Community at the UN
Feminist Task Force

Appalachian women put coal on trial
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2012/05/10/appalachian-women-put-coal-on-trial/

Appalachian women put strip-mining on trial
http://wvgazette.com/News/201205110127

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