CPLC: 2022 highlights

January 2, 2023 Karen Long MacLeod Campaign Updates, Community News, Events, News Clips Brushwood Center, buses, CEJA, Celeste Flores, chemical disaster, Chicago Tribune, Clean Power Lake County, Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, coal ash ponds, coal plants, coloring book, Dulce Ortiz, Earthjustice, Eddie Flores, environmental justice, EPA, ethylene oxide, EtO, interns, Leah Hartung, Mayor Ann Taylor, Midwest Generation, NRG Energy, PACE, Rep. Brad Schneider, Sen. Adriane Johnson, State Rep. Rita Mayfield, Waukegan lakefront

The power plant on Waukegan’s lakefront stops burning coal in June 2022! [Photo: Karen Long MacLeod/CPLC]
CPLC co-chair Dulce Ortiz worries about toxic coal ash at the Waukegan lakefront.
CPLC co-chair Dulce Ortiz demands toxic coal ash be removed from the lakefront ASAP. [Photo: Rep. Rita Mayfield]
CPLC Summer 2022 interns.
CPLC co-chair Eddie Flores shares his environmental justice journey in a new coloring book.
US EPA must do more to prevent chemical disasters, says CPLC’s Celeste Flores. [Photo: Coming Clean]

WE DID IT! In 2022, after working together as a community for more than 10 years, we shut down the last two coal-burning units at the Waukegan Generating Station’s Lake Michigan site.

The coal plant’s closure definitely stands out as the biggest milestone of the year for Clean Power Lake County (CPLC). Yet it is just one of several moments in 2022 worth noting.

January

January 11: State Rep. Rita Mayfield and State Sen. Adriane Johnson introduced legislation (House Bill 4358/Senate Bill 3073) requiring removal of all coal ash from the Waukegan Generating Station site. The toxic waste has contaminated groundwater at the Lake Michigan site for more than 10 years.

February

February 18: CPLC supporters met virtually with state legislators to lobby for bills addressing environmental injustices in the issuance of permits, requiring removal of all coal ash from the Waukegan Generating Station site, and more.

February 25: The Illinois Senate passed a bill requiring removal of all coal ash from the Waukegan Generating Station site. If enacted, it would safeguard Lake Michigan, the main source of drinking water for nearly 6 million people.

April

April 7: Despite widespread community support and Illinois Senate approval, a bill requiring removal of all coal ash from the Waukegan Generating Station site did not advance in the Illinois House during the last week of the spring legislative session.

April 27: ComEd filed new rates with the Illinois Commerce Commission to give direct credits of more than $1 billion to customers—a result of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA).

June

June 1: NRG shut down the last two coal-burning units at the Waukegan Generating Station. Huge win for our community! Closing the lakefront coal plant has been CPLC’s top priority for almost 10 years.

June 9: WBEZ-Chicago and WGN-TV highlighted serious concerns about hazardous coal ash waste left behind at the newly closed Waukegan Generating Station. CPLC co-chair Dulce Ortiz, Sierra Club’s Christine Nannicelli, State Rep. Rita Mayfield, and Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor were interviewed.

June 13: CPLC celebrated the delivery of the first of six battery-electric Pace buses slated for Waukegan. The transit agency decided to make the North Division in Waukegan its first Zero Emission Facility in response to a strong campaign led by CPLC Steering Committee member Leah Hartung.

June 27: Citing newly identified flood risks at the Waukegan power plant, CPLC co-chair Dulce Ortiz demanded NRG be held accountable for cleaning up toxic coal ash at the site as soon as possible. Joining the call for action were Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor, State Rep. Rita Mayfield, State Sen. Adriane Johnson, and Congressman Brad Schneider.

July

July 28: CPLC offered a fond farewell to Summer 2022 interns: Waukegan native Michelle Aguilar, a government and politics major at Scripps College in Claremont, California; and Maddie Young, an environmental studies major at American University in Washington, D.C.

August

August 16: President Joe Biden signed a sweeping $750 billion health care, tax, and climate bill into law. Thanks to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), Illinois is in a strong position to use the historic climate funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

August 20: CPLC co-chair Eddie Flores signed copies of Eddie’s Environmental Justice Journey during a downtown Waukegan event. The bilingual coloring book was a collaborative effort by Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, CPLC, and local artist Diana Nava.

August 25: Earthjustice—on behalf of CPLC and other groups—sued the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for exempting at least half a billion tons of coal ash in nearly 300 landfills in 38 states from standards designed to protect people from cancer-causing chemicals.

September

September 15: One year after the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) was signed, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition saluted volunteers across Illinois—including CPLC supporters—who fought like the planet depended on it (it does) for a #FossilFreeIL.

September 26–28: CPLC Steering Committee member Celeste Flores urged the US EPA to require chemical facilities to prepare for climate change by implementing safer chemicals and processes. Our message during the virtual hearing: Voluntary measures aren’t enough to prevent chemical disasters.

November

November 4: A project to monitor ethylene oxide (EtO) in Lake County will receive a US EPA grant funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. “ Testing is a good start,” said CPLC Steering Committee member Celeste Flores in a Lake County News-Sun article.

December

December 14: Earthjustice—on behalf of CPLC and other groups—sued the US EPA for failing to take legally required action to protect the public from carcinogenic air emissions from ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization facilities.

2023 vision

Now that pandemic lockdowns are behind us (forever, we hope!), we are excited about the opportunity to work with you in person once again!

Priorities for 2023:

Ensuring all coal ash is removed from the Waukegan Generating Station site. It should not be allowed to contaminate Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for 6 million people in four states.
Working to ensure workforce training programs under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) increase access for marginalized communities and include community-driven approaches that lead to jobs, capital to complete projects, and more.
Supporting federal action to protect our community from emissions of ethylene oxide and other harmful chemicals.

To support CPLC’s work, please make a gift today.

CPLC members say proposed EPA risk management rule doesn’t go far enough

October 4, 2022 Karen Long MacLeod Campaign Updates chemical disaster, chemical facility safety, chemical hazard, Clean Power Lake County, EPA, ethylene oxide, EtO, Risk Management Program (RMP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Whitney Richardson

Waukegan, Gurnee, and other municipalities in Lake County, Illinois, are surrounded by dangerous chemicals, like ethylene oxide (EtO). We know it is up to us to push for further protections.

That’s why members of Clean Power Lake County spoke out last week during public Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearings on a proposed update to the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. The update would partially restore critical chemical facility safety standards that were rolled back in 2019 by the Trump administration. It also proposes—for the first time ever—to require regulated facilities to account for the accelerating impacts of climate change.

Whitney Richardson, a member of Clean Power Lake County, shared her concerns:

I’m a mother, wife, daughter, human rights and environment researcher, legislative professional, and community member. The nearest RMP facility from me is 3 miles away in Mundelein, Illinois, but there are many others in Lake County where I live—like Waukegan and Gurnee—and where many friends and family live within the state and nationally.

I’m here today to urge the EPA to take responsibility on behalf of all and require that facilities do all that is in your power to prevent chemical disasters and protect all those at risk in the event of a disaster, taking into account the dire need to prepare for guaranteed climate-driven extreme weather events and power loss.

Already, I understand that about 150 serious chemical disasters occur at RMP facilities annually, leading to deaths, injuries, and other harms. There are many current climate-change scenarios panning out and future scenarios to come—both in which we know climate change poses certain risks, though the degree to which is still unknown. It is not only prudent but incredibly necessary to anticipate and protect against worst-case scenarios in the face of such uncertainty.

EPA must require implementation of external hazard mitigation and backup power systems. We already know that one-third of RMP facilities are located in areas at risk of flooding, storm surges, and wildfires so the rule must require facilities to consider and protect against these scenarios and concurrent risks like power outages.

The EPA should also account for cumulative health impacts of these facilities on communities overburdened with multiple polluting facilities, strengthen prevention requirements so harm to communities doesn’t predicate action, include workers in disaster prevention planning, and expand coverage of the program no later than next year (e.g., redefining “stationary source” definition, expanding list of covered substances to include ammonium nitrate and other reactive chemicals involved in crises).

Oftentimes, the focus on protecting against climate change—and hazards more generally—is cast into the future. This dangerously overlooks our responsibilities today to address already present and known issues and to take the necessary actions to prevent and reduce serious risks into the future.

Here’s how you can help!

It is up to us to push for further protections. You can help: Email your comments to www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0174-0003 through October 31, 2022.

Email cplc@cleanpowerlakecounty.org for background materials (courtesy of our friends at Coming Clean Inc.) that can help you prepare your comments.

CPLC members push EPA to strengthen chemical accidents rule

October 4, 2022October 3, 2022 Karen Long MacLeod Campaign Updates Celeste Flores, chemical disaster, chemical facility safety, Clean Power Lake County, EPA, ethylene oxide, EtO, Risk Management Program (RMP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Last week, members of Clean Power Lake County spoke out during public Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearings on a proposed update to the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. The update would partially restore critical chemical facility safety standards that were rolled back in 2019 by the Trump administration. It also proposes—for the first time ever—to require regulated facilities to account for the accelerating impacts of climate change.

Waukegan, Gurnee, and other municipalities in Lake County, Illinois, are surrounded by dangerous chemicals, like ethylene oxide (EtO). We know it is up to us to push for further protections.

Celeste Flores, a member of Clean Power Lake County’s steering committee, shared her concerns:

I am calling today on behalf of 703,462 residents of Lake County, the third most populous county in Illinois, to urge the EPA to strengthen its Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention Rule.

While the rule is a step forward, it does not go far enough to prevent chemical disasters, keep workers safe, and advance environmental justice. I will suggest three specific ways the rules need to go further for community members.

1: As a community member, the EPA has not made it easy for me or others to access information about chemical facilities. Anyone should be able to access relevant chemical hazard information and how this information can help them protect themselves and their communities in the event of a chemical release.

The current EPA proposal to access information is too limiting; frankly, it makes me feel like y’all don’t want me to access it. Rather than provide limited access to chemical hazard information based on proximity to a facility, EPA should develop, no later than December 2023, a public, multilingual online database where any public member can access RMP facility information and risk management plans.

I am here this morning on my own time, starting work late, because I know how critical access to information is. Why should I continue to be expected to take time off, travel, and get through red tape to access this virtual information?

2: The EPA should ensure that workers are included in disaster prevention and planning. The current rule must go further by requiring employers to have employees and their representatives at the decision-making table in developing risk management plans rather than merely requiring employers to consult with employees.

In Waukegan, Illinois, AB Specialty Silicones plant had an explosion in 2019. We lost 4 community members. Workers acted fast and alerted colleagues to get out but the loss of those 4 lives was preventable. Strengthening employees’ input can be done by this agency and that will lead to lives being saved.

3: The EPA must require timely, multilingual community notification and real-time fenceline monitoring. We have seen the devastation one president can have on environmental justice communities. CPLC has been advocating for federal protections since 2013. We saw our wins taken away in the last administration. This agency has the opportunity to not only bring back protections but strengthen them and act with urgency to protect our lives. Lake County, Illinois, is 25% Hispanic/Latino. Waukegan, Illinois, is 60% Hispanic/Latino. It is critical for information to be multilingual.

It was not until late 2018 that I learned about the dangers of breathing ethylene oxide (EtO) on a daily basis. I have serious concerns about the lifelong impacts of breathing EtO daily. One of the community’s biggest questions when speaking about EtO is how much was being realized before late 2018. We will never know because this agency has not implemented fenceline monitoring.

My community deserves real-time fenceline monitoring to detect releases and provide the public with information about potentially toxic emissions like EtO. I know we have other chemicals being emitted into the air. Fenceline monitoring is also a critical tool for detecting unplanned releases and monitoring emissions following incidents. EPA must require RMP facilities to use real-time fenceline air monitors and make this information available to the public and first responders.

Here’s how you can help!

It is up to us to push for further protections. You can help: Email your comments to www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0174-0003 through October 31, 2022.

Email cplc@cleanpowerlakecounty.org for background materials (courtesy of our friends at Coming Clean Inc.) that can help you prepare your comments.