Guest Author: Toni Oplt, Piasa Palisades Group ExCom Member, Chair of Metro East Green Alliance

Allow us to introduce ourselves… Metro East Green Alliance, also known as MEGA, is a partner with the Piasa Palisades Group (PPG) of Sierra Club Illinois. MEGA is a small group of volunteers, many of whom are also members of PPG. The purpose of MEGA is one of particular focus—our members are almost entirely focused on holding fossil fuel polluters accountable for harmful practices to local communities—especially Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities—and working hard to push Illinois to 100% clean energy by 2050. To reach these goals, we have remained steadfast supporters of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), and were thrilled when Governor Pritzker signed this comprehensive piece of legislation, which addresses climate change and equity in equal measure, into law on September 15. MEGA and PPG are supportive of each other and in step with each other’s work—MEGA is just a little beam of bright light in the luminous world of Sierra Club. 

Lately, MEGA’s work has centered on the shuttered Wood River Power Station and its current state of demolition. For more than a year, we have been calling out Commercial Liability Partners (CLP), the company that purchased the shuttered plant from Vistra in 2019, regarding their unwillingness to have a public conversation with community members and disclose their demolition activities and future sale plans for the site. After multiple private and public attempts, engagement with local officials, and outreach to county government, state legislators, and the IEPA, the company remains silent. No one, at any level of government, seems to be able to force them to the table. 

The demolition would require one final step—the stacks at the plant site needed to be blown out, prompting a loud noise and significant potential collateral damage. We feared the worst—that the implosion would come without warning, without preparation or protection for surrounding communities, and without regard for the fragile Mississippi eco-system and flood plain on which the property sits. The fact that four unlined coal ash ponds sit on this floodplain is often ignored, and the company’s plans would have allowed the rising water table to carry toxins out into the river, into the drinking water, the habitat of migrating waterfowl and amphibian life in the river, and into surrounding streams and creeks. 

However, because of hard work by both PPG and MEGA, the worst was not realized. Media attention and local activism held polluters accountable enough to at least warn surrounding communities and provided time to take extra precautions regarding dust mitigation. 

However, our work holding CLP accountable as the demolition date neared revealed a systemic lack of accountability and responsibility across our state and the nation as coal plants continue to close. We know that coal plant closures are inevitable because operating these plants has become unprofitable to the companies that own them. Thus, they will close, often without warning and without a safe closure plan, putting corporate savings and profit above human health and environmental protection. Some of these concerns will be addressed by the passage of CEJA, which has the means to demand a just transition for the impacted communities, but across the nation, polluters still win.

If this makes you angry, put your outrage to good use! We can use your help. We are stronger together. To work with MEGA, email Toni Oplt at opltocc@ezl.com. We’d love to have you attend our next monthly meeting, learn what’s happening at Wood River, as well as what’s happening with coal ash in general and the very real move toward renewables and clean energy.