As part of a settlement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and public interest groups represented by Earthjustice, the agency on May 17 published proposed revisions to federal safeguards for coal ash.
In a major win for communities near coal plants—like Waukegan—the draft rule extends federal monitoring, closure, and cleanup requirements to hundreds of previously excluded older landfills, legacy ponds, and fill sites.
The revisions would close an important loophole in the 2015 Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule, which excluded coal ash at power plants that stopped producing power and landfills that stopped receiving new waste before the law went into effect.
At least 566 landfills and ponds at 242 coal plants in 40 states were exempted from the 2015 federal regulations, according to Earthjustice.
The exempted coal ash ponds and landfills are sited disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color.
Since October 2015, many coal plant owners have evaded cleanup requirements almost entirely by blaming nearby unregulated dumps for any pollution detected.
This practice would end under the proposed EPA rule: Site owners would be required to monitor and clean up all coal ash at a given site, rather than trying to regulate each dump at a site individually.
“We are hopeful this rule will hold these industries accountable and send a message that community members and taxpayers will no longer be responsible to clean up their mess. We all deserve healthy communities and environments that our families and future generations can enjoy,” said Dulce Ortiz, co-chair of Clean Power Lake County.
Proposed rule falls short
Unfortunately, the proposed rule does not address all coal ash dump sites at former coal plants. It leaves out ponds that did not contain water as of the original rule’s effective date (October 2015) or after.
In addition, it does not address coal ash that was used as construction fill at playgrounds, schools, and throughout neighborhoods.
Earthjustice and its partners, including Clean Power Lake County, insist that the EPA should extend federal coal ash regulations to all coal ash disposed at current and retired power plant sites to address immediate threats and prevent further contamination.
“As the EPA works to finalize these reforms by next year, there are a few things they need to do,” said Lisa Evans, senior counsel for Earthjustice. “The EPA must close the loophole tightly, so utilities cannot avoid cleaning up any toxic waste. It doesn’t matter when or where it’s been dumped; it needs to be dealt with. The EPA must keep close tabs on whether the utilities are complying with federal health protections. We’ve learned polluters rarely do the right thing unless they know there are serious consequences. Enforcement will make or break these new safeguards.”
Once the rule is published in the federal register, there will be a 60-day public comment period and public hearings.
Nonprofit legal organization Earthjustice filed the coal ash landfill litigation in 2022 in US District Court on behalf of plaintiffs Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (Tennessee), Indiana State Conference and LaPorte County Branch of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, Hoosier Environmental Council (Indiana), Clean Power Lake County (Illinois), Environmental Integrity Project, and Sierra Club.
Earthjustice filed litigation to address legacy ponds in 2015 on behalf of Clean Water Action (Washington, D.C.), Comité Dialogo Ambiental Inc. (Puerto Rico), PennEnvironment (Pennsylvania), Hoosier Environmental Council, Tennessee Clean Water Network, Environmental Integrity Project, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club, and Waterkeeper Alliance.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released two proposed actions to update its regulations of carcinogenic emissions from ethylene oxide (EtO) commercial sterilization facilities.
The first proposed rule will require sterilizer facilities to reduce emissions from both major and minor sources by installing control technology within 18 months of the publication of the final rule. According to the EPA, these regulations will eliminate an estimated 80% of EtO emissions once implemented.
The proposed rule is a long overdue and much needed first step, say advocates who have urged EPA to strengthen rules to fully protect communities and workers from this aggressive carcinogen.
However, today’s proposed rule falls short of providing communities with the full protection they deserve. One, it does not require fenceline monitoring. Two, it contains a potential loophole for off-site warehouses where sterilized products—which can continue to produce EtO emissions—are stored.
EPA also released a revised risk assessment and proposed interim registration review decision based on findings that registered uses of EtO present up to a 1 in 10 lifetime cancer risk for workers inside sterilization facilities. This is among the highest risks ever calculated under the nation’s federal pesticide control law.
EPA’s revised risk assessment and proposed interim registration includes new requirements for workers using ethylene oxide as a sterilizer, but it stops short of phasing out its use in food products.
Today’s proposed rule comes after Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to update standards to protect the public from harmful air emissions from EtO sterilization facilities.
The Clean Air Act directs the EPA to review its ethylene oxide standards every eight years. However, the agency has repeatedly missed this deadline—first in 2014 and again in April 2022.
“Today’s proposals are an important first step in remedying an injustice that affects far too many communities,” said Earthjustice attorney Marvin Brown. “Too many workers and community members have gotten cancer from facilities that are supposed to make sure that our medical equipment is safe. We know, and EPA knows, that ethylene oxide poses a dire cancer risk to anyone who breathes it in.”
Brown added, “While EPA must move quickly to reduce ethylene oxide emissions, it must go further and ensure that frontline communities have the data to know when their air is safe through fenceline monitoring. And the agency must move quickly to reduce and phase out the use of ethylene oxide for sterilizing products that can be safely sterilized by other means.”
“The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment, and we are grateful that the agency has taken the first steps to follow through. However, we have been waiting too long for them to fulfill their legal obligation to us and communities across the country,” said Celeste Flores, steering committee member with Clean Power Lake County. “Ethylene oxide sterilizers emit harmful air emissions day in and day out, endangering those living, working, or going to school nearby. We’re looking forward to ensuring that the EPA is held accountable and enacts the strongest protection possible.”
Facilities that emit ethylene oxide are typically found in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, many already grappling with elevated toxic exposure and health risks from multiple forms of industrial pollution. Children are particularly sensitive to ethylene oxide’s harmful effects.
The Waukegan Port District has not engaged the public in a transparent process around impacts of the proposed expansion of Waukegan National Airport. [Photo: Thor Jorgen Udvang/Dreamstime]
The vision of Clean Power Lake County is to build a sustainable community that promotes the healthy development of all Lake County communities, especially those most vulnerable, by addressing environmental racism, practicing participatory democracy, advancing self-determination, and empowering BIPOC community members. The proposed expansion of Waukegan National Airport, specifically to replace the current runway with one longer than runways used at Midway and Chicago Executive Airports, completely undermines this vision.
The Waukegan Port District, which owns and operates the airport, has failed to engage the public in a transparent process around impacts of the proposed expansion. Moreover, the municipal corporation failed to provide a thorough environmental impact statement for members of the public or the Lake County Forest Preserve District (LCFPD) to review before asking it to approve the proposal.
For the planned expansion to proceed, the Port District needs to acquire 52 acres of designated public land entrusted to the LCFPD. This land is in a part of Lake County that has significantly less public green space than more affluent portions of the county, and where existing public lands have not been improved in ways that support public access. This area cannot afford to lose more green space.
Clean Power Lake County believes it would be a violation of public trust for the LCFPD to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Port District before the full environmental impact report is released and public hearings are held.
The people of Wadsworth, Zion, Beach Park, and Waukegan have the right to access complete and accurate information about this proposal and must be allowed to exercise their rights as community members who will experience the negative impacts of airport expansion.
The LCFPD has the responsibility to act in the best interests of both the people of Lake County and the green spaces entrusted to their care. Airport expansion is not urgent and does not require a rushed process. A change of this magnitude requires public engagement, transparency, and a thorough process.
The LCFPD must exercise its authority and require the Port District to demonstrate substantial value to the community, minimal negative environmental impacts, and assurance that there will be no loss of accessible green space in northeastern Lake County. Anything less would further erode the trust we place in our elected officials and jeopardize the future of our communities.
The US Environmental Protection Agency faces a lawsuit 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. [Image: Skyhobo-Canva]
Earthjustice mined databases buried in EPA archives and found that the agency exempted 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. The landfills are sited disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color (see map). It is enough coal ash to fill train cars that could go around the earth two times.
Plaintiffs’ Attorney Mychal Ozaeta from Earthjustice said, “Power plant records reveal that about half of the toxic coal ash waste in the US is entirely exempt from any federal health protections. This is outrageous. The coal power industry is poisoning drinking water sources and the air we breathe while causing global warming.”
When the EPA adopted the first-ever rules in 2015 for toxic ash generated when burning coal, the agency excluded coal ash landfills and waste piles that stopped receiving new waste before the law went into effect. It also didn’t cover landfills at power plants that had already stopped producing power.
The EPA has noted that the risks to humans associated with exposure to coal ash include “cancer in the skin, liver, bladder and lungs,” “neurological and psychiatric effects,” “cardiovascular effects,” “damage to blood vessels,” and “anemia.”
The lawsuit says what we know about the extent of water contamination from coal ash “is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The suit describes an Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice study of industry data: “Groundwater contamination exceeding federal health-based standards was found at 76% of the regulated CCR [coal combustion residuals] landfills. Regulated landfills are newer and more likely to be lined than the older landfills EPA exempted from the CCR rule. Thus, the exempted inactive CCR landfills are likely to be releasing even higher levels of toxic contaminants.”
The lawsuit states, “Coal-fired power plants generate one of the largest toxic solid waste streams in the United States. In this voluminous waste stream are large quantities of heavy metals and metal compounds such as arsenic, boron, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, lithium, mercury, molybdenum, radium, selenium, and thallium.”
Nonprofit legal organization Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in US District Court in Washington, DC, on behalf of plaintiffs Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (Tennessee), Indiana State Conference and LaPorte County Branch of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, Hoosier Environmental Council (Indiana), Sierra Club, Clean Power Lake County (Illinois), and Environmental Integrity Project.
Among the hundreds of landfills the EPA has exempted from their protections is NRG Energy’s Waukegan Generating Station, where an unregulated coal ash fill has been contaminating groundwater since at least 2010.
“For years we have fought hard for our community to be protected, for our community to be respected and for our community to be seen,” said Dulce Ortiz, co-chair of Clean Power Lake County. “For starters, this can be done by ensuring the EPA protects our community by addressing the coal ash landfill that sits on our lakefront. Minority and economically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately burdened by pollution and the Waukegan community is no different. The EPA must do what it was intended to do, to protect our community residents and our environment.”
Sierra Club Attorney Bridget Lee said, “The continued storage of toxic coal ash in unlined landfills without groundwater monitoring flies in the face of EPA’s own science and risk assessments and threatens fenceline communities across the country. The agency must act now to close this dangerous loophole.”
According to the lawsuit, if the EPA had followed the law (the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), “basic safeguards would be in place for inactive CCR landfills that would keep coal ash toxins out of our drinking water, air, rivers, lakes, and streams, and require remediation at the scores of sites already known to be contaminating water at dangerous levels.”
CPLC co-chair Eddie Flores is excited to share his environmental justice journey in a new coloring book.
Until he started high school, Eddie Flores had no idea that dangers hid in plain sight in Waukegan—and especially along its lakefront.
As a high schooler, he got involved with environmental groups. And that’s when he found out his hometown had five Superfund sites and a coal-burning power plant.
“Growing up, I was never really taught about the coal plant or our Superfund sites in school and feel like it is something that really needs to be taught,” Eddie said in his Clean Power Lake County bio. “I hope to connect people—especially youth—to this fight since we’re the ones that are going to be inheriting this planet.”
He has already begun connecting people to the fight for climate justice. This summer, he is sharing his story in Eddie’s Environmental Justice Journey, an environmental justice (EJ) coloring book.
The bilingual EJ coloring book is a collaborative effort by Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, Clean Power Lake County (CPLC), and local artist Diana Nava.
The coloring book helps Lake County children understand how pollutants from lakefront industries affect them. It also shows how people can work together to bring about a better future for their community.
Complimentary coloring books will be available during a Meet and Greet event on Saturday, August 20. The free event runs from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Three Brothers Theatre in downtown Waukegan. Reserve your free ticket here.
This year, Clean Power Lake County will make its second appearance in Waukegan’s PrideDrive. In 2020, CPLC and Faith in Place volunteers collaborated on entries. [Image: courtesy Celeste Flores]
As a community organization committed to justice for all people, Clean Power Lake County is pleased to celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month. We gratefully acknowledge the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals have had on local, national, and international history.
To kick off Pride Month, we are excited to participate for the second year in Waukegan’s PrideDrive. Members of our steering committee will decorate a car to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
PrideDrive 2021 is Saturday, June 5, from 1 pm to 3 pm. Vehicles will roll out from 269 W. Clayton St., near Jack Benny Plaza in downtown Waukegan. For route information, visit the PrideDrive Facebook page.
The celebration will continue with an after-party in front of Nightshade and Dark’s Pandemonium Brewing, 216 W. Clayton St.
The Lake County Health Department (LCHD), Waukegan Main Street and the LGBTQ+ Center of Lake County will fill the streets with friends, fun and pride.
This event will follow CDC, Illinois Department of Public Health and LCHD social distancing guidelines.
Now an updated version of the bill is generating new support. Last month, more than 1,500 people submitted pro-CEJA witness slips before a House Energy & Environment Committee hearing. A majority of the committee’s members voted to send CEJA to the House for a vote.
Let’s look at four ways that passing CEJA will help Lake County residents.
1. Relieve the heavy burden of toxic pollution
CEJA will transition our power sector away from fossil fuels by 2030 and significantly expand clean energy generation. That will lead to significant improvements in air and water quality as well as in human health across Lake County.
How? Coal-fired power plants emit vast quantities of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (which leads to climate change) plus dangerous mercury, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter (soot). Solar energy systems do not produce air pollution or greenhouse gases. Wind turbines do not release emissions that can pollute the air or water, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“The shift to clean energy offers a chance to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, while lessening the toll that dirty fossil fuels are currently wreaking on some of our most vulnerable communities,” the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a 2015 report.
Waukegan, Lake County’s largest city, is one such vulnerable community. Its residents have been paying a heavy toll for dirty fossil fuels for more than 100 years—thanks to the local coal-fired power plant. The plant, owned by NRG Energy, is the largest point source of air and water pollution in Lake County, according to the Sierra Club.
“Breathing polluted air contributes to an increase in health problems, including asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, respiratory and cardiovascular harm, reproductive harm, lung cancer, and early death. Some groups are particularly at risk—including children, older adults, communities of color, and those with existing health issues,” according to the American Lung Association.
CEJA also will provide economic development incentives for communities where coal plants have recently closed, help protect workers’ benefits and give them access to higher education and vocational training, and ensure that polluters pay for the environmental damage they cause.
2. Hold utility companies accountable to consumers
CEJA includes strong provisions to protect consumers from rate hikes and prevent corruption, such as the yearslong bribery scheme to which ComEd recently admitted (Capitol News Illinois).
One such provision is capacity market reform.
Utility companies say the capacity market is a form of insurance: They are paid to guarantee that energy will be available during predicted peak use times. In reality, the capacity market has operated as a fossil fuel bailout mechanism: Coal-fired power plants are paid years in advance to supply energy to consumers during peak usage times that may or may not come down the line.
CEJA will remove Illinois from the multistate capacity auction (conducted by the federally regulated PJM regional transmission organization). Instead, it will allow the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) to buy capacity. The IPA could then emphasize purchasing solar and wind energy rather than power created by burning fossil fuels.
“If we implement CEJA, [Illinois] will stop paying $1.8 billion on fossil emitting coal plants and that’s something we’ll be able to tangibly see the impacts of on day one,” Rep. Ann Williams, chief House sponsor of CEJA, said in a February news conference.
In other words, CEJA can remove undue economic and environmental burdens on Illinois residents while taking the fossil fuel industry off life support.
Another provision is ending automatic rate hikes for utility delivery services. CEJA calls for performance-based rate settings: The Illinois Commerce Commission would be allowed to approve only utility investments, programs, and rates that are cost-effective and contribute to a renewable energy electric grid.
3. Create environmental justice empowerment zones
CEJA will create Clean Energy Empowerment Zones (or Environmental Justice Empowerment Zones). These will offer tax breaks and other types of support for new clean energy businesses in areas where coal plants have closed in the past 10 years or where they may close in the future, according to an October 27, 2020, article by Kari Lydersen in Energy News Network.
The point is to help fossil fuel workers who might otherwise be left behind in the shift to clean energy as well as communities that have suffered disproportionately from environmental harms, unjust permitting, and limited job opportunities.
CEJA also will create Clean Jobs Workforce Hubs. The statewide network of frontline organizations will offer direct, ongoing support to minority and disadvantaged communities. For example, hubs could connect workers with job opportunities in the clean energy sector.
As a recognized environmental justice community, Waukegan is slated under CEJA to become a Clean Energy Empowerment Zone as well as a Clean Jobs Workforce Hub. Among other things, this means Waukegan will get funding, job training resources, and guidance for economic development and revitalizing the Waukegan coal plant site (once it closes).
These measures will be funded through emissions fees and coal severance fees.
4. Protect public health and our children’s future
CEJA will help Illinois avoid the worst impacts of climate change in three ways:
Transitioning Illinois’ power sector completely away from fossil fuels by 2030
Supporting workers and communities impacted by the decline of coal
Significantly expanding clean energy generation and good-paying clean energy jobs
It’s a vicious circle: Burning fossil fuels—coal, natural gas, gasoline, and diesel fuel—decreases air quality and emits carbon. Carbon release contributes to climate change. Climate change can put our health and safety at risk. Climate change also can make it harder to clean up pollution.
Extreme heat and flooding have already cost Illinois more than $6.5 billion and hundreds of lives in recent decades. According to Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition estimates, if no action is taken, climate change by 2050 will cause nearly 1,200 deaths and more than $6 billion in damage each year in the Midwest.
The damages will be even greater in areas with poor air quality, such as Lake County.
Illinois can’t afford to wait: We need to pass CEJA this spring.
Let’s make it happen!
CEJA is headed to the House floor for a vote this spring. If you haven’t contacted your representatives about CEJA, now is the time to voice your support. If you have contacted your representatives about, now is the time to remind them you hold them accountable for supporting this important bill. You can write them here.
Next, ask your families, friends, and neighbors to contact legislators, too. We need legislators to hear, loud and clear: “Lake County supports CEJA!”
Last, but not least: Join friends and neighbors in your district and coalitions across the state for Spring Virtual Lobby Day on April 26. You will have the chance to talk with your legislators about the need to pass CEJA.
Our clean energy future can’t wait any longer.
Whitney Richardson lives in Vernon Hills, Illinois. She recently completed an MSc abroad in International Environmental Studies and conducts legal, legislative, and policy research.
Leah Hartung is from Libertyville, Illinois. She is a rising senior at Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) studying environmental science as well as a member of Clean Power Lake County’s steering committee.
Dulce Ortiz, co-chair of Clean Power Lake County, and other Waukegan activists urge Illinois lawmakers to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act in 2020.
Storms are becoming more intense. Sea levels are rising. Disastrous wildfires are destroying record acreage (2.5 million this year) and impairing air quality over multistate regions. Climate change and COVID-19 are causing unprecedented public health and economic crises. There is no time to wait for cleaner, healthier, more affordable energy.
And we don’t have to wait. The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) will create thousands of jobs in Illinois’ growing clean energy industry—without raising taxes or hiking utility rates. No wonder 82% of Illinois voters support CEJA, according to a May 2020 poll released by the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.
The thing is, Illinois lawmakers have yet to pass CEJA. So Dulce Ortiz, David Villalobos, and Eduardo Flores of Clean Power Lake County want to know: What is Gov. J.B. Pritzker waiting for?
CEJA will:
Put jobs and equity at the center of a clean energy future, creating well-paying jobs in the communities where they are needed the most
Guarantee cost savings on electricity bills for consumers through capacity market reform
Put Illinois on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2050 by taking advantage of the falling cost of wind and solar power and focusing on energy efficiency
Provide a just transition for fossil fuel workers and communities
Reduce air and water pollution from the fossil fuel industry
As we approach the final legislative session of 2020, will you stand for clean energy, clean air, and clean water? Tell lawmakers that CEJA must take precedence in the November veto session: Sign our “Pass CEJA” petition today.
It is part of Clean Power Lake County’s DNA to support state action on toxic coal ash ponds. So when the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) held its August hearing on proposed rules for the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act, we were there to call for stronger rules.
Why was that important? Because the groundbreaking Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act provided an important framework for addressing toxic coal ash waste (see CPLC Celebrates as Governor Signs Milestone Coal Ash Cleanup Bill Into Law) and a rulemaking process. However, it did not establish enforcement standards. Instead, it tasked the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) with drafting the actual rules for enforcing the law.
The August hearing was IEPA’s first opportunity to testify in defense of its proposed rules. It also was the first time that industry representatives, environmental groups, and other public stakeholders could ask IEPA about the proposed rules.
Several Clean Power Lake County members—including folks who participated in IEPA coal ash listening sessions in Waukegan last September—made virtual statements during the public comment periods of the August hearing.
Mary Mathews represents the League of Women Voters of Lake County, a coalition member of Clean Power Lake County. Mathews demanded strict measures for coal ash: “In order to protect the groundwater’s chemical integrity, rules for cleanup and closure of coal ash sites must provide permanent protection from coal ash pollution.”
She also stressed the importance of public participation in the decision-making process: “The public has the right to know about pollution levels, dangers to health and environment, and proposed policies and options. Accordingly, the rules should include expanded outreach and require that opportunities, materials, and documents be made available to non-English speaking stakeholders. Additionally, hearings should be held in easily accessible locations, at convenient times, and, when possible, in the area concerned.”
Leah Hartung, an intern for Clean Power Lake County, stressed that improper coal ash management makes drinking water unsafe: “Since groundwater monitoring began in 2010, the groundwater at the Waukegan power plant has been found 400 times to have the contaminants related to coal ash above allowable levels. This is unacceptable. Safe drinking water is a human right, not a privilege.”
When IPCB holds its September 29-October 1 hearing—its second and final hearing on the proposed coal ash rules—Clean Power Lake County members will be there once again. We will stress the importance of adopting the strongest possible rules to protect us and residents of other communities burdened by coal ash pollution.
The US Census is one time when everyone counts—babies, children, teens, adults, older adults. [Alekss/Dreamstime]Every 10 years, the United States counts the people in this country in a process called the census. This is one time when everyone counts—babies, children, teens, adults, older adults.
The 2020 Census will provide a snapshot of America’s population—who we are, where we live, and so much more.
The census matters
Here’s why census information is vital for us and our community:
Determines how many representatives each state gets in Congress as well as how congressional and state legislative district boundaries are redrawn
Determines how more than $675 billion in federal funds are distributed yearly to more than 100 programs, including Medicaid, Head Start, block grants for community mental health services, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Helps communities plan for a variety of resident needs, including new roads, schools, and emergency services
Helps businesses decide where to open places to shop
Census results affect our community every day.
Think of your morning commute: Census results influence highway planning and construction, as well as grants for buses, subways, and other public transit systems.
Or think of your local schools: Census results help determine how money is distributed for the Head Start program and for grants that support teachers and special education.
The list goes on, including programs to support rural areas, to restore wildlife, to prevent child abuse, to prepare for wildfires, and to supply housing assistance for older adults.
It’s time to raise our hands
There’s one condition: To ensure we get our fair share, we all must raise our hands and participate.
Right now, our area is trailing Illinois as a whole for completed census forms, according to the United States Census Bureau. While 66.6% of Illinois residents have completed their forms, only 60.5% of residents of the Illinois 10th Congressional District have done so. For Zion, the response is 59.1%. For Waukegan, the response is only 55.9%.
The good news is, online, phone and mailed self-responses will be accepted through October 31. Visit my2020census.gov to begin.
Clean Power Lake County 