On a 99F July Sunday, there’s no cooler place to be in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood than the public pool in Dvorak Park, where you can catch a fleeting breeze in this working-class, heavily Latino community. Unfortunately, the air in Pilsen isn’t very cool–and it isn’t very clean. Chicago’s air on July 17 was so polluted that the government recommended that children and people with respiratory ailments–too common in a city that has nearly double the national asthma-hospitalization rate–limit their time outdoors. “People are getting sick in Chicago because of the air,” says Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental-health programs at the Respiratory… Read more at www.time.com.
On Friday, December 2nd, supporters of the Chicago Clean Power Coalition delivered an eight foot-tall wall filled with 800 photos of Chicago citizens an end to pollution from Edison International’s Fisk and Crawford coal plants.
They commended Mayor Emanuel for his commitment to clean up air pollution in Chicago but urged him to work with the coalition and Edison International to set retirement dates for the coal plants by the end of this year. Many of the photographs pictured children, families and individuals from across Chicago holding signs that said “I have the right to breathe clean air.” Read more…
Sulfur dioxide plumes from Chicago’s Fisk and Crawford coal plants loom over neighborhoods, put children’s health at risk
Chicago residents are at risk of high exposure to dangerous sulfur dioxide, according to new air pollution modeling released by the Sierra Club on October 31. Sulfur dioxide, emitted by Chicago’s two coal plants, is linked to asthma attacks, severe respiratory problems, lung disease, neurological damage, and heart complications. More
A new poll commissioned by the Clean Power Coalition shows that voters in every part of Chicago support efforts by the City to reduce pollution from the Fisk and Crawford coal plants. 72% of Chicago voters said they would support a plan that reduces soot pollution from the coal plants by 90% and carbon dioxide pollution by 50%.
Even after hearing arguments in opposition to, and in favor of stricter pollution standards, 64% of respondents said they would support City efforts to reduce pollution from Fisk and Crawford. More…
On September 20 nearly one hundred supporters of the Chicago Clean Power Coalition hand delivered a petition with over 5,000 signatures to the Mayor’s office asking him to pass the Clean Power Ordinance and protect Chicago’s communities from the dangerous pollution produced by Midwest Generation’s coal-fired power plants on the Southwest side.
Residents and concerned Chicagoans formed a human billboard outside of City Hall asking Mayor Emanuel to hold these corporate polluters accountable and protect the public health of Chicago residents. More …
The Clean Power Ordinance was first introduced in April 2010. The measure gained support from a majority of the City Council but was denied a formal committee hearing until April 2011, when a vote was deferred to the current administration.
During that year of delay, Midwest Generation’s Fisk and Crawford plants pumped over 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 2,500 tons of nitrogen oxides and 4.6 million tons of carbon dioxide into Chicago’s air. One year of pollution from Fisk and Crawford creates health damages that cost the public over $120 million, says the National Research Council. Read more here and here…
