More than 50 people at Waukegan’s lakefront celebrate the release of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. [Photo courtesy of El Centro Padre Gary Graf.]More than 50 residents of Waukegan and nearby Lake County communities had good reason to smile on Monday, August 10: We were gathered on the Waukegan lakefront—in the shadow of NRG’s coal-fired power plant—to celebrate the recent release of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, featuring the first national carbon pollution protections.
And then, of course, we had cake.
It wouldn’t be a celebration without a cake. Ours read, “Thank you, President Obama, for acting on climate by creating the first-ever federal standards on carbon pollution from power plants! #ActOnClimate”. [Photo courtesy of El Centro Padre Gary Graf.]
Now it’s up to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to craft a statewide plan to comply with the federal plan.
Speakers called on the IEPA to prioritize environmental justice communities like Waukegan and Little Village: (clockwise) Kim Wasserman-Nieto, Jennifer Witherspoon, Alderman David Villalobos of Waukegan, and Yuridia Carbajal. [Photos courtesy of El Centro Padre Gary Graf.]State Sen. Melinda Bush sees the Clean Power Plan as a huge opportunity to boost the economy and reduce dangerous air pollution. [Photo courtesy of El Centro Padre Gary Graf.]However, it’s up to people like us to make sure the IEPA plan prioritizes environmental justice communities like Waukegan and Little Village, according to Alderman David Villalobos of Waukegan, Kim Wasserman-Nieto of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization in Chicago, Jennifer Witherspoon of Lake County Branch NAACP, and Yuridia Carbajal of El Centro Padre Gary Graf/Most Blessed Trinity Church in Waukegan.
The Waukegan celebration was one of five events co-sponsored during the week by the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Related events included a celebration and petition delivery in Alton, and press conferences in Springfield and Chicago.
If you’re interested in joining the fight for clean air, clean water, and clean energy in northeastern Illinois, contact Clean Power Lake County at cleanpowerlc@gmail.com.
In a video released on August 2, 2015, President Obama called the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan “the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change.”
Clean Power Lake County launched in 2013 with the goal of getting Waukegan to transition from dirty coal to clean energy. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama Administration bring us closer to that goal with the release of the final version of the landmark Clean Power Plan.
“Power plants are the single biggest source of the harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change,” President Obama said in a video released on Saturday, August 2. “But until now, there have been no federal limits to the amount of that pollution those plants can dump into the air.”
Carbon pollution is the main contributor to climate disruption.
Carbon pollution also poses significant risks close to home. Because many power plants are located in disadvantaged communities, dangerous carbon pollution has a disproportionately negative effect on low-income people and people of color, including higher rates of heart attacks, asthma, and premature death.
Here’s some context: Last year, the Respiratory Health Association found that one in three children here in Waukegan had been diagnosed with asthma or showed symptoms of asthma.
Until today, there were no limits on the amount of carbon pollution that power plants could dump into the air to wreak havoc on our health and our climate.
By finalizing the centerpiece of his Climate Action Plan, the first regulations to reduce dangerous carbon emissions from existing power plants, President Obama is making history.
By cleaning up dirty power plants, the No. 1 source of life-threatening carbon pollution, these protections will ensure that our kids, our workforce and our communities are healthier. These protections also will create much-needed jobs as we fight climate disruption.
Clean Power Lake County will commemorate this historic moment–and talk about what it means for our community–on Monday, August 10, at 10 a.m. at the Stiner Pavilion on Waukegan’s lakefront. Please join us for this celebration!
Six state assembly members from Lake County were among 53 members of the Illinois House and Senate who last month urged the EPA to set strong limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants, and who pledged support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
“The EPA limits other dangerous pollutants such as mercury, arsenic, smog and soot pollution from power plants; it is time to do the same for carbon pollution,” said the December 1, 2014, letter to Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA.
The six Lake County officials who signed the letter are:
State Senator Julie Morrison, Senate District 29
State Senator Melinda Bush, Senate District 31
State Representative Elaine Nekritz, Assistant Majority Leader, House District 57
State Representative Scott Drury, House District 58
State Representative Carol Sente, House District 59
State Representative Sam Yingling, House District 62
Here are some ways in which Illinois is well-positioned to meet the challenge of reducing carbon pollution:
Illinois led the nation in the number of communities using renewable energy between 2008 and 2012.
Energy efficiency investments have saved Illinois consumers roughly $1 billion since 2008.
More than 96,000 Illinoisans currently are employed across the state in clean energy jobs, according to a recent survey by the Clean Energy Trust. That number is roughly equal to the size of the state’s real estate and accounting industries—and it is expected to grow 9 percent this year.
The EPA is slated to finalize new carbon pollution standards by June 2015.
Clean Power Lake County 