A Big Lump Of Coal From Springfield – Senate Approves $286 Million/yr Bail Out For Tenaska

Senate Passes Electric Rate Hikes To Underwrite 10,000,000,000 Pounds of Pollution Per Year

Today, the Illinois Senate voted to force Illinois citizens and businesses to purchase power from a proposed coal plant operated by Tenaska, an out-of-state corporation. The bill, SB 678, has been repeatedly rejected due to concerns about the exorbitant cost of the project, the huge amounts of new pollution it may emit, and the unproven nature of its pollution controls. Today, power politics prevailed over these concerns.

Today Springfield voted to raise our electric rates for 30 years to pay for a risky, expensive coal plant we don’t need. The Illinois Senate has said yes to a ratepayer bailout for a failing project that threatens to pump out over 10 billion pounds of pollution every year.

Illinois consumers would be expected to pay up to seven times today’s market price for electricity to subsidize this out of state company. Even if the plant is built on time and without overruns, this will amount to a $286-million increase in electric rates every year for the next 30 years. This terrible burden on families and on businesses is going to have devastating consequences on our economy and will cost Illinois thousands of jobs, including lost manufacturing jobs across the state.

Coal is a risky investment. Just today an epic case of coal plant buyer’s remorse was announced in North Dakota. The Spiritwood Station coal-burning power plant 85 miles west of Fargo, ND, cost $437 million. Owner Great River Energy and regional mining industry lobbyists insisted that the plant was necessary to provide enough power to the region. Now Great River Energy is shutting down this coal plant, right after it was built. This might be the only new U.S. coal plant built to supply continuous, base-load power that was immediately mothballed. Will Taylorville be next? (For more information on the Spiritwood Station:

In addition to sky high rates, Illinois ratepayers would be locked into massive amounts of dangerous pollution. Illinois EPA recently estimated Tenaska’s potential at over 10 billion pounds per year, including health-threatening lead and mercury. Tenaska itself admits to IEPA that the pollution control plan in SB678 is “not commercially available”.

We understand the need to create jobs in new energy technologies, but the Tenaska project is the wrong way to go. We’ve created over 14,000 jobs in Illinois renewable energy by encouraging competition, protecting ratepayers, and investing in proven technology. That’s the smart way to create clean energy jobs, without jeopardizing our health and Springfield picking the winners that the rest of us are forced to subsidize.

We call on the Illinois House to reject Tenaska’s bailout request, and stand up for ratepayers and the air we breathe.

You can see how your State Senator voted here.

Coal Ash: The Forgotten Waste Rears its Ugly Head

AP Photo/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Mark Hoffman

Coal ash has made its way back in the news again after a bluff caved in at WE Energies Oak Creek Power Plant releasing the hazardous waste into Lake Michigan.  The collapsing bluff swept away trailers and other construction equipment leaving a debris field 120 yards long and 50-80 yards wide at the bottom. Unfortunately, it’s not just accidents that are resulting in coal ash polluting our waters. The Badger, Lake Michigan’s historical coal-burning ferry, dumps 4 tons of coal ash each trip it makes across the lake.  Coal ash contains high levels of arsenic, mercury and lead but unfortunately has few regulations regarding its use.

The EPA is working on creating stricter regulations for coal ash use.  Under EPA’s proposed regulations, large coal ash fill sites would be considered as hazardous waste disposal and would have to be identified and monitored. These kind of regulations are especially important for sites like WE Energies that have placed coal ash in or on unsteady ground. UW-Milwaukee geologist Tom Hooyer says “The bluffs along Lake Michigan are in constant recession. They recess a foot per year on average.”

WE Energies power plant site used coal ash as “structural fill” in the 1950s but unfortunately this haphazard process continues to be used today. According to the 2009 report from the American Coal Ash Association more than 8.8 million tons were used for similar projects. The proposed regulations would also transition the Badger from burning coal to oil.

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives have just passed a bill that would handcuff EPA’s ability to move forward with strong coal ash disposal safeguards for our communities and the same bill has been introduced into the Senate. Coal ash disposal is not simply an environmental issue but an important public health issue.

Contact your senators and demand they regulate coal ash like the hazardous waste it is.

It…Is…Alive! – Tenaska’s Coal Plant Lives On

It’s a monster, and it will not die – until Springfield comes to their senses.

Did Your Senator Vote To Put You On the Hook For Tenaska?

You may not have heard of Tenaska, but they know about you. Tenaska is an out-of-state corporation that wants to put you on the hook for a very dirty, risky proposition. Tenaska has a deal for you – they build a coal plant, and you have to buy all of their output, for 30 years.

There’s a small catch, of course. Tenaska can’t sell you the power at a fair price, or anywhere near it. They can’t beat the price of wind power. They want to lock you into a rate seven times the current market price. But, if they have their way, the Illinois General Assembly will force you to pay the difference, and to subsidize their coal plant. That is, unless Springfield finally drives the silver spike through this monster, once and for all.

Tenaska has been trying to sell Springfield on its sweetheart deal for years. Despite hiring a battalion of statehouse insiders as lobbyists, they haven’t been able to overcome the alarming price tag, and grave concerns about their sketchy plans to deal with huge amounts of new pollution. The State Senate has rejected the company twice, and there wasn’t enough support in the Illinois House for a vote this Spring. But, like the monster in a bad horror movie who gets up off the floor after we assume they are finally dead, Tenaska is coming back at our wallets stronger than ever.   Last week, 24 Senators voted for Tenaska, short of the 30 needed for passage, but they will try again November 8-10.

You’d pay on your power bill, but it doesn’t stop there. Tenaska also wants to force the CTA, Chicago Public Schools, Cook County Hospital, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and other local governments to underwrite them. Everyone who takes the CTA to lower their carbon footprint would now be subsidizing coal, and the CTA, which faces a huge deficit, would pay over $1 million a year extra for a coal plant over 200 miles away. All these local governments would pay more, and they would have little choice but to raise taxes and fares on us to cover the cost.

Just as Tenaska makes its big push, the Illinois EPA has come out with an alarming new analysis of the pollution it would cause. Illinois EPA recently estimated Tenaska’s potential at over 10 billion pounds per year, including health-threatening lead and mercury and the pollutants linked to climate change. Tenaska itself admits to IEPA that the pollution control plan in SB679 is “not commercially available”.

Tenaska proposes to bury some of their pollution underground at undisclosed locations. They hope that somebody else will come and build a pollution pipeline to take their pollution away. However, IEPA finds that “the necessary prerequisites for sequestration (or burying of Tenaska’s pollution) would not be present.” Tenaska itself admitted to IEPA that the plan it is lobbying the legislature for is “not commercially available.”

The only reason Springfield is even considering such a scary proposition is the very real need for jobs in central Illinois.   But there is a better way to create jobs in new energy technology.   Illinois’ clean energy incentives, which have created 14,000 jobs since 2006, are a much better model for new energy job creation. Our renewable energy goals require competitive bidding, rather than naming a single company the winner of a 30-year contract. The clean energy programs cap the costs to ratepayers, and invest in proven technology like wind and solar power rather than risky coal projects.  Tenaska’s proposal contradicts all of these important safeguards.

It’s time for Illinois to roll the credits on Tenaska’s horror flick. A good scare is one thing, but Springfield needs to pull the plug on Tenaska before we’re all on the hook for a thirty year nightmare.

Tell you Senator how you feel, before it’s too late.