FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 25, 2022
Contacts: Hannah Lee Flath, hannahlee.flath@sierraclub.org, 860-634-0225
SPRINGFIELD, IL. -- Today, Senate Bill 3073 (House Bill 4358) passed in the Illinois State Senate, pushing the legislation one step closer toward protecting Waukegan residents and the nearly 6 million people who get their drinking water from Lake Michigan from toxic coal ash. The legislation, which is sponsored by Representative Rita Mayfield (HD60) and Senator Adriane Johnson (SD30), will require NRG Energy to remove all coal ash from the Waukegan Generating Station, which has caused groundwater contamination at the lakefront site for over a decade.
Advocates and community members have argued that removal of the ash at three ash ponds — the legacy ash pond and the active East and West Coal Ash Ponds — is the only way to ensure this contamination is addressed. Since state coal ash rules were finalized by the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) in 2021, NRG Energy has ignored community concerns and instead petitioned the IPCB to exempt its legacy ash pond from compliance with Illinois' coal ash rules.
“Lake Michigan is an essential water source to Waukegan and other shore-line communities,” says Senator Adriane Johnson. “Waukegan has too long been burdened by environmental hazards, and by requiring the plant to clean up its ash ponds, we are one step closer to reaching environmental justice in the area and progressing to a cleaner, greener future.”
Since Illinois’ new coal ash rules became effective in 2021, NRG and Vistra filed 10 different petitions before the IPCB seeking exemptions and “relief” for various coal ash sites from the new rules. NRG’s request that the legacy ash pond at Waukegan Generating Station be exempted from the rules is particularly concerning because the site is the most significant source of groundwater contamination among the three ponds at the Waukegan site. Data shows that ash in this area can be as much as 15 feet deep, is in contact with groundwater, and lacks any protective liner. As recently as early February, NRG Energy submitted an application to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for a permit to “cap-in-place” one of the ash impoundments on the shores of Lake Michigan and does not include a proposal to address the legacy ash on the lakefront site at all. The groundwater violations at the hands of NRG have continued unabated and have been the subject of an ongoing lawsuit brought by Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center before the Pollution Control Board since 2012.
“As a Waukegan resident, we’ve been shown time and time again that we can’t trust NRG Energy and that they don’t feel any sense of accountability to the community,” says Clean Power Lake County co-chair Dulce Ortiz. “NRG Energy continues to take the easy route and residents are left to deal with the consequences of those decisions every day. We deserve clean air, clean water, clean soil, accountability, and justice. This legislation will bring us one step closer to achieving those goals and would send a message loud and clear. The days of massive polluters like NRG Energy treating communities like Waukegan as sacrifice zones and then skipping town, are over.”
Next, House Bill 4358 will be heard in the state House Energy and Environment Committee, followed by a floor vote in the House.
“I commend Senator Johnson and my colleagues for passing this critical legislation to finally address groundwater contamination and ensure Lake Michigan is protected,” says Representative Rita Mayfield. “As NRG actively works to undermine the protections of Illinois’ new coal ash rules, it’s critical that we get this bill across the finish line in the House.”
“Leaving dangerous coal ash waste that is actively leaching pollutants into groundwater on the shores of Lake Michigan would be the worst environmental outcome for NRG’s site in Waukegan,” says Christine Nannicelli, Senior Campaign Representative for the Beyond Coal Campaign in Illinois. “These ash ponds have been contaminating groundwater on Waukegan’s lakefront for over a decade and it’s long overdue for NRG to clean up its act.”