FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Contacts: Hannah Lee Flath, hannahlee.flath@sierraclub.org, 860-634-0225
SPRINGFIELD, IL. -- Today, local residents and public health and environmental advocates from across Illinois delivered nearly 2,000 public comments in opposition of EmberClear’s proposed Lincoln Land Energy Center to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). Eighteen public health and environmental advocacy organizations join the thousands of local community members and concerned citizens across the state in opposition of the plant, citing short- and long-term concerns about the plant’s proximity to people’s homes and schools and the negative effect on public health and the environment. The massive public opposition to the proposed gas plant sends the message loud and clear that Illinoisans don’t want dirty energy in Illinois.
The Illinois EPA recently proposed a draft operating permit for EmberClear, a Texas-based corporation that went bankrupt in 2016, to build the Lincoln Land Energy Center, a large electric generating plant that would be constructed next to people’s homes and schools in Pawnee, IL. Local community members first raised concerns about the proposed plant in 2017 when zoning permits were filed, and have continuously turned out in opposition of this plant since then. In mid-November, hundreds of community members and environmental advocates turned out at a public hearing to oppose the newly proposed operating permit, and concerned citizens are now raising their voices through thousands of written comments.
The proposed gas plant would run on methane, a greenhouse gas that traps more heat than carbon dioxide, and the permit would allow the plant to emit up to 3.9 million tons of dangerous carbon pollution each year. By comparison, when the Dallman coal plant was operating at full capacity in 2019, it was emitting 2.2 million tons of carbon pollution per year. In addition, Sierra Club estimates that “upstream” emissions from the extraction, transport, and storage of methane gas due to leaks and flaring would add another 3.4 million tons of CO2 equivalent. While other states like New York hold strong and deny methane gas plant permits that threaten climate progress, this proposed IEPA permit lags far behind the stronger standards set by other state agencies, allows EmberClear to emit dangerously high greenhouse gas emissions, and contradicts with Illinois’ climate goals.
“The IEPA has a duty to deny EmberClear’s proposed construction permit for the Lincoln Land gas plant,” says Nick Dodson, local resident and ExCom member with the Sangamon Valley Group of Sierra Club Illinois. “The Illinois EPA’s mission is to safeguard environmental quality so as to protect health, welfare, property, and the quality of life in Illinois. Allowing EmberClear to construct a gas plant in the midst of a climate crisis is contradictory to the IEPA’s mission. We need a strong commitment from the EPA for real energy and environment solutions like following legislation from the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which sets Illinois on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2050.”
“Thousands of Illinoisans have publicly declared opposition to this proposed gas plant in Pawnee, and for good reason,” says Christine Nannicelli of Sierra Club Illinois. “It’s clear that Illinoisans reject building new fossil fuel infrastructure that will bring additional pollution to Pawnee and surrounding communities, potentially bring leaks and dangerous health effects to local residents, and cost consumers unnecessary money. The Illinois EPA must listen to the voices of concerned citizens and heed the science that indicates that dirty gas has alarmingly disastrous effects on public health and the environment.”
“As coal plants retire, burning methane gas for heat and electricity is a growing threat to our climate progress and public health," said Meghan Hassett, Midwest Clean Energy Advocate from the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Analysis shows that we cannot reach a carbon-free energy future without reducing gas generation, and the Lincoln Land Energy Center would be a huge step backward. The Illinois EPA must not allow the profit motives of EmberClear or any fossil fuel company to undermine our climate progress, public health, and our clean energy transition – especially when clean energy technologies like solar plus storage can provide flexible, reliable electricity without pollution.”
The following 18 environmental and public health organizations oppose the IEPA’s proposed operating permit for Texas-based EmberClear’s Lincoln Land Energy Center:
Sierra Club Illinois
Natural Resources Defense Council
Illinois Environmental Council
Prairie Rivers Network
Union of Concerned Scientists
Eco-Justice Collaborative
Respiratory Health Association
Metro East Green Alliance
Save Our Illinois Land
Climate Reality Project Chicago Metro Chapter
WindSolarUSA, Inc.
Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance
Faith in Place Action Fund
NAACP Peoria Branch
Change Peoria
Illinois People’s Action
E-Town Sunrise
Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois