Supporters of the Clean Power Coalition delivered an eight-foot tall board to Mayor Emmanuel’s office displaying over 800 Chicagoans demanding their right to breathe cleaner air. Local community justice members, parents, environmentalists and public health experts urged the Mayor to set retirement dates for Chicago’s two dirtiest coal plants,
Fisk and Crawford, by the end of 2011.
Fisk and Crawford are two of the dirtiest coal plants in the country located in a dense urban area. Studies have shown that these two coal plants are linked to asthma attacks among children, heart attacks, hospitalizations and early deaths. Chicago Clean Power Coalition members, including Sierra Club, have been mobilizing in their communities to shutter the pollution from both Fisk and Crawford and to fight for clean air solutions.
During the petition delivery event, Rev. Thomas R. Gaulke, Pastor at First Lutheran Church of the Trinity in Bridgeport and representatives from P.E.R.R.O. and Pilsen Alliance spoke on behalf of the community, urging Mayor Emanuel to announce retirement dates a top priority of his administration.
Clean Power Coalition supporters and organizers continue to bring light to a pollution crisis that results in 45,000 tons of pollution a year and in an eight year span has cost Chicagoans more than $1 billion in health care and environmental costs. Join us and our community partners in moving Chicago beyond coal.
Illinois Sierra Club Blog 