EPA Deal Will Close Indiana Coal-Fired Power Plants Polluting Chicago

Last week, the EPA announced a legal deal that will control on some of the biggest sources of pollution along the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

As part of the settlement, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. will permanently scuttle an idled coal-fired power plant in Gary and spend $600 million to install and improve pollution controls at three other aging electric generators in Chesterton, Michigan City and Wheatfield.

The improvements will reduce smog- and soot-forming sulfur oxide by 46,000 tons a year and curb lung-damaging nitrogen oxide by 18,000 tons annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA and Illinois officials have documented how the pollution swirls around the lake and contributes to air-quality problems miles away from the smokestacks….

Coal plant pollution is a major health threat in the Chicago area. In the metropolitan region that stretches around Lake Michigan from Kenosha to Naperville to Gary, 347 people die, 584 suffer heart attacks and 264 are admitted to emergency rooms each year from exposure to the emissions, according to an analysis commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a Boston-based environmental group.

Only New York and Philadelphia record more deaths and illnesses from coal plant pollution, the group concluded after relying on peer-reviewed methods endorsed by the EPA and National Academy of Sciences.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. faced legal troubles for upgrading the power plants to keep them operating while failing to install modern pollution controls required under the Clean Air Act. Enforcement of these provisions by the Obama administration led to this agreement.

What will the future hold for energy in the region? What consequences do our energy regimes have for our air, water, and health? These questions are addressed in the Sustainability Studies curriculum, including SUST 210 The Sustainable Future (offered beginning next Thursday by Adjunct Professor Michele Hoffman-Trotter at Roosevelt’s downtown campus , and by Professor Mike Bryson both online and at Roosevelt’s Schaumburg campus), and SUST 310 Energy and Climate Change. For more information on these or any other of our courses, please visit our Sustainability Studies website, call 1-877-277-5978 (1-877-APPLY RU) or email applyRU@roosevelt.edu.