FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 18, 2022
Contact: Hannah Lee Flath, hannahlee.flath@sierraclub.org, 860-634-0225
FRANKLIN AND WILLIAMSON COUNTY, IL. -- Friday, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) granted a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to Williamson Energy LLC, the owner of the Pond Creek coal mine, that allows the discharge of polluting chemicals into the Big Muddy River. This permit will allow the coal mine, which is notorious for its inability to adhere to its permits, to discharge millions of gallons of mine water with very high levels of chlorides and sulfates per day through a 12.5-mile pipeline into the Big Muddy River. Sierra Club Illinois, Prairie Rivers Network, and local activists object to the permit and are considering an appeal, noting that the permit goes against Illinois law and allows this dirty coal mine to continue polluting our communities and environment.
Williamson Energy LLC and related companies have repeatedly demonstrated that they can’t meet the relatively simple standards set by their previous NPDES permit. At Pond Creek Mine alone, the company is responsible for 78 water quality discharge violations since it began operation in 2005. Several of those violations have occurred within the past two years while this permit was under consideration. Yet, the IEPA expects Williamson Energy LLC to be able to adhere to a complicated NPDES permit granted Friday, April 15 despite their ongoing history of repeated violations. Williamson Energy LLC is owned by Foresight Energy, which also owns Sugar Camp Energy—the coal plant that dumped PFAS-laden fire-fighting foam into its mine last year, which affected neighbors’ properties and leaked into tributaries of the Big Muddy River.
Sierra Club Illinois, Prairie Rivers Network, and environmental advocates across Illinois first raised concerns regarding the proposed permit’s failure to adequately mitigate the impacts this dirty mine water will have on local waters, wildlife, and communities in 2019. Advocates submitted hundreds of comments to the IEPA and participated in a public hearing in December 2019 to share concerns about the proposed NPDES permit. Thanks to these efforts and comments, the final permit is an improvement from the 2019 version, but critical problems remain. The permit as issued fails to protect Illinois waters from chronic toxicity.
In response, Mayor Stephens of Murphysboro, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club Illinois, and local activists released the following statement:
“As a local resident, I’m disheartened to learn that the IEPA opted to issue a permit that will disrupt aquatic ecosystems and harm properties along the Big Muddy River,” say local Murphysboro residents Cameron Smith and Jan Thomas. “Even though our property does not touch the Big muddy river directly, the floodwaters do flow onto our land several times a year, where we are creating a sanctuary for wildlife and native plants. We are concerned the added salinity will harm these plants and wildlife which we are protecting.”
“Polluting coal mines continue to put communities and our water sources in harm’s way by dumping their waste into our watersheds,” says Sierra Club Illinois Director Jack Darin. “New permits for coal mine operators that are constantly in violation of their permits will allow them to continue to harm our communities, and is out of step with Illinois’ transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.”
“The contaminants allowed in this NPDES permit are known to be harmful to fish reproduction and other aquatic life,” said Andrew Rehn, Water Resources Engineer with Prairie Rivers Network. “Illinois is moving in a new direction on energy, and this doesn’t align with the goals stated in last year’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. The improvements to the permit fall short of the protection we expect for our rivers.”
"I am disappointed in the issuance of the permit by the IEPA,” says Mayor Will Stephens of Murphysboro. “The long term impacts of this discharge will negatively impact the health of the Big Muddy River. However, I am thankful for those who spoke in opposition, as their voices helped garner modifications to the permit. These modifications will increase testing requirements and lower the levels of toxic chemicals in the water discharged from the mine."