Clean Power Ordinance Has the Votes to
Pass … Committee Hearing Set for April 21

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When:   10:00 am, City Council Chambers
Where: 121 N. LaSalle, 2nd Floor, Chicago

The ordinance that would cut harmful pollution from the two coal plants in Chicago now has enough support to pass City Council. A committee hearing on the Clean Power Ordinance will be held on April 21. Chicagoans are looking to Mayor Daley to allow a vote on the ordinance before he leaves office. “The huge public health and environmental benefits of the Clean Power Ordinance could be Mayor Daley’s legacy,” said Jerry Mead-Lucero of the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO). “All we need is a vote, but time is running out.”

Since March 7, Aldermen Solis (25th), Austin (34th), Brookins (21st),  Cardenas (12th), Daley (43rd ) Fioretti (2nd), Maldonado (26th), Newsome (4th)  and Tunney (44th) have announced that they too will co-sponsor the ordinance, bringing the total number of co-sponsors to 26.  Others, such as Alderman Stone (50th) and are not co-sponsors, but have pledged to vote in favor of the ordinance.

The Chicago Clean Power Ordinance was introduced in April 2010 by Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) in response to the health and environmental damage created across the city by the Fisk and Crawford coal plants in Pilsen and Little Village. The ordinance would drastically reduce soot and greenhouse gas pollution from the two plants, thereby reducing the number of hospitalizations and premature deaths caused by the plants’ pollution and lowering the estimated $127 million in public health costs the plants create each year.

“The people of Chicago want the Clean Power Ordinance to pass.” Said Edyta Sitko of Greenpeace. “We are excited that the City Council is moving forward with this ordinance, which will prevent more unnecessary illness and death.”

Before coming to a vote before the City Council, the Clean Power Ordinance will be heard by a joint committee on consisting of the Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities, chaired by Alderman Virginia Rugai ( 19th Ward ) and the Committee on Health, chaired by Alderman James Balcer ( 11th Ward).  The committee hearing will be held on April 21st. The final City Council meeting of Mayor Daley’s Administration and the current City Council will be held May 4.

The Chicago Clean Power Coalition, a group of over 56 local business, health, labor, environmental and community organizations is calling on alderman to pass the Ordinance before the Council adjourns in May.  “We are grateful to the co-sponsoring Aldermen who value the good health of their constituents and protecting the environment,” said Lan Richart of the Eco-Justice Collaborative, a Coalition member group. “We now look forward to the joint committee hearing and a vote in the full City Council. The health of millions of Chicagoans and future generations depends on it.”

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