Where there's a Will, there's a way

Chicago Aldermen and a long list of organizations announced the Clean Power Ordinance at a press conference earlier today. Sierra Club is one member of the Chicago Clean Power Coalition pushing to require Chicago's two aging, inefficient coal power plants to cut their pollution.

Progress Illinois covered the event and posted a video.

For almost a decade now, environmental justice organizations have been fighting to clean up the two coal-fired power plants operated by energy company Midwest Generation in Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. It's clear why. ...the two facilities spew large quantities of soot and other pollutants into the city air (45,000 tons in the past three years, according to the Chicago Clean Power Coalition). A 2001 Harvard study estimated that those emissions cause 41 premature deaths and 550 emergency room visits annually for ailments like asthma, heart disease, and cancer.

This will have major national significance if it sets a precedent for other cities.

It won't be an easy fight. Midwest Generation is politically powerful in Illinois. A spokesperson for the company is already pulling out the predictable, old scare tactic.

McFarlan says the proposed ordinance is "unnecessary and misguided" and could lead to the closure of the plants.

And my response is...so what? If they can't operate an efficient plant in compliance with the law then they deserve to be replaced by another company that will provide a 21st century energy mix instead of 19th century coal power. Clean energy will provide more jobs than the coal industry but without the asthma and mine accidents.

If I lived in Chicago I'd be calling my Alderman today.