Catherine Edmiston PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE An 11-year legal battle over a coal mine 40 miles south of Springfield continues as one woman claims the Illinois Department of Natural Resources didn’t follow its own rules. The case questions how coal mines clean up their mining sites, but the plaintiffs say they’re fighting against a system […]
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300 million years ago
Scientific illustrator Mary Parrish of the Smithsonian Institution created this painting of what the Danville area would have looked like 300 million years ago using real fossils for reference. Parrish worked under the direction of Smithsonian paleobiologist Bill DiMichele. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution. Painting by M. Parrish. A warm, moist breeze blows through the swampy forest […]
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A life-or-death decision for Dallman power plants
PHOTO BY RACHEL WELLS CWLP power plant Springfield City Water, Light and Power must decide whether to upgrade or decomission its three oldest boilers in light of changing pollution regulations, and the utility’s decision could affect the cost of power in Springfield for decades. An environmental compliance study commissioned by CWLP in December 2013 explored […]
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Does FutureGen have a future?
With U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois looking on, Ken Humphreys, CEO of the FutureGen Alliance, signs a labor agreement on Monday to provide union labor for the FutureGen project planned in a rural area outside Jacksonville. The agreement may signal that the long-delayed project is moving forward. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Illinois is one […]
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Coal ash ruling could mean new restrictions
A federal judge has ordered the United States Environmental Protection Agency to pass regulations on disposal of coal ash, which could have far-reaching implications for Illinois’ rebounding coal industry and coal plant operators like Springfield City Water, Light and Power. The Illinois-based environmental group Prairie Rivers Network participated in the lawsuit that prompted the decision […]
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Shell game
A Texas-based energy company wants to take over several coal plants in Illinois, but environmental groups claim the company is planning to skip pollution controls and use a shell company to avoid taking on any risk. Dynegy Inc. of Houston, Texas, is planning to acquire five coal plants in central and southern Illinois from Ameren […]
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Subsidizing coal costs Illinois budget $20 million
Coal companies have extracted about $3 billion worth of coal from Illinois so far this year. So why is the state of Illinois giving them subsidies? That’s the question asked by an alliance of environmental groups in a report released June 27. Titled “The Impact of Coal on the Illinois State Budget,” the report says […]
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State gives Ameren a pollution pass
State regulators won’t enforce pollution limits on one of Illinois’ largest power generators until 2020 under a ruling released Sept. 20. The Illinois Pollution Control Board last week granted Ameren Energy Resources – a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation – a variance that allows the power plant operator to put off compliance with a […]
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IEPA withdraws Tenaska Taylorville permit
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency withdrew a pollution permit last week for a proposed power plant in Taylorville after federal regulators asked the state to allow a controversial “clean coal” technology. IEPA previously issued a permit to Nebraska-based power company Tenaska allowing the company to operate its Taylorville Energy Center project as a natural gas […]
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Tenaska drops clean coal plan for Taylorville
A proposed state-of-the-art “clean coal” power plant in Taylorville has been sidelined, but the project could still continue as a natural gas power plant. Nebraska-based Tenaska, Inc. says its proposed Taylorville Energy Center is necessary to prevent power shortages as old coal plants go offline, but opponents question whether it’s really needed and why taxpayers […]
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Attorney general questions Macoupin mine permit
While one of the state’s largest coal-mining companies prepares to go public, state regulators are examining whether one of the company’s mines near Carlinville has a proper pollution permit. St. Louis-based Foresight Energy plans to raise $300 million though an initial stock offering, the company announced last month. But regulators are raising questions about a […]
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Coal curriculum
Illinois is a coal state – the eighth-largest producer of coal in the nation at 33.2 million tons in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The Illinois Geological Survey estimates Illinois coal holds more energy potential than all of Saudi Arabia’s and Kuwait’s oil reserves combined. It makes sense that the state would […]
