FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Contacts: Hannah Lee Flath, hannahlee.flath@sierraclub.org, 860-634-0225
Elizabeth Scrafford, elizabeth.scrafford@sierraclub.org, 208-818-4626
Nick Dodson, nickdodson@gmail.com, 217-622-9609
PAWNEE, IL. -- Sierra Club Illinois, community advocates in the Pawnee area, and environmental activists across the state are calling on the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to deny EmberClear a permit to build a new “natural” gas plant at 15000 Black Diamond Road in Pawnee. The Illinois EPA has issued a draft operating permit for the Texas-based company EmberClear to build the Lincoln Land Energy Center, a large electric generating plant that will be permitted to emit up to 3.9 million tons of dangerous carbon pollution each year. Concerns have been raised about the close proximity of the proposed facility to people’s homes and schools in Pawnee, which would put community members at risk of pollution and related health issues. The plant would run on methane, a greenhouse gas that traps more heat than carbon dioxide.
“The construction of new methane gas plants is one of our biggest threats to climate progress. We’re already seeing state agencies recognize the need to set more stringent pollution standards for these proposed facilities, and even deny permits that are inconsistent with state climate commitments, as we saw most recently in New York,” says Sierra Club staff attorney Megan Wachspress. “The proposed IEPA permit lags far behind the stronger standards set by other state agencies and allows EmberClear maximum flexibility to emit extremely high greenhouse gas emissions relative to typical gas plant operation.”
In addition to the high greenhouse gas pollution limits proposed in the permit, the Sierra Club has significant concerns with the “upstream” emissions not accounted for in the permit that result from the extraction, transport, and storage of methane gas due to leaks and flaring. Sierra Club estimates that upstream emissions would add another 3.4 million tons of CO2 equivalent if the plant operates as proposed in the permit. The total of both “downstream” emissions, pollution directly emitted by the plant as permitted, and “upstream” emissions from the connected gas infrastructure would result in the equivalent of adding 1.6 million passenger vehicles to the road.
“Any time large-scale projects are proposed, it's important for us to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks. In this case, the gas plant concerns me for several reasons,” says activist and local resident Jessica Megginson. “As a parent, I should not have to worry about potential gas leaks and dangerous health effects brought on by an unnecessary gas plant mere blocks from where hundreds of children are growing up and attending school. As a local resident, I don’t want to be left with an abandoned building in 2045 when our state moves to a zero-emissions power sector.”
Sierra Club Illinois leaders and community activists local to Pawnee and from across the state plan to attend the hearing on Wednesday, November 17 (which has a virtual option) and submit comments through December 17 to remind Illinois EPA leaders that gas is expensive, risky for customers, and bad for the climate.
“Just a couple months ago, Illinois passed history-making climate legislation that puts the state on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2045,” says Sierra Club Illinois Director Jack Darin. “The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act includes targets to retire gas plants across the state by 2045, with particular focus on retiring plants that are in close proximity to environmental justice communities. Illinois should reject this detour as we embark on the path to 100% clean energy.”
In addition to the disastrous effects the gas plant would have on the planet, gas plants are expensive and a risky financial investment. A 2019 study published by Rocky Mountain Institute looked at 88 proposed gas plants around the country and found that 90% of them would provide electricity that costs more than if the utilities instead invested in wind, solar, and energy efficiency. In addition, President Biden is calling for the U.S. to be Carbon Free by 2035 and Illinois just passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which will bring clean energy online across the state. Investing in building a new gas plant in 2021 will unnecessarily keep customers on the hook paying for the gas plant past its useful life.