Earlier this week, Edison International announced that they would shut down the Fisk and Crawford coal plants -- a victory for the books! After ten years of gritty and determined grassroots work, communities in Chicago triumphed over the corporate polluter in their back yard. On the same day, citizens in Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania celebrated the announcement that Houston-based GenOn would shut an additional 7 plants, including the Portland Generating Station where Greenpeace worked with NJ and PA residents to demand clean air for their community
The Chicago Sun-Times sums up the day brilliantly in their editorial, "Credit grass-roots effort for victory over pollution."
It was encouraging to see Mayor Emanuel step up and engage in negotiations to shut down Fisk and Crawford. Responding to public pressure, he demonstrated leadership that is all too lacking at all levels of government. Corporate polluters have bought their way into the hearts of congressmen and regulators, leaving the task of holding the coal industry accountable to grassroots organizations across the country.
But it should not have to take a ten-year campaign to close century-old coal plants. People shouldn't be forced to sacrifice their time and energy -- let alone their health -- to secure clean air and water for their communities.
Energy companies like Edison International need to take responsibility for the communities they poison.
Edison International CEO Ted Craver announced the retirement of Fisk and Crawford on an investor call with little fanfare. In agreeing to close the plants, Edison executives are saving 42 lives every year. They are telling local Chicago communities that hundreds of asthma attacks and heart attacks will no longer be triggered by the pollution Fisk and Crawford spew into the air. And yet, the decision was packaged in the language of "financial discipline" and "impairments."
Besides Fisk and Crawford, Edison operates four coal plants in Illinois, as well as the dirtiest coal plant in America, the Homer City Generating Station in Pennsylvania. We hope that the good news on the Fisk and Crawford shutdowns signal a sea change for the company -- a chance for them to live up to their own rhetoric on clean energy leadership.
On the investor call, Ted Craver indicated that Waukegan Generating Station and Homer City may not be part of their coal fleet for much longer. That's encouraging news. Now, we need a real commitment from them to shut down those plants and bring clean air to communities throughout Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Follow Philip Radford on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Phil_Radford
Jeff Biggers: Historic Victory: Coal Free Chicago Will Electrify Clean Energy Movement
Talk about Power Plants.....American Made, United States Gypsum, drywall (Not Chinese) made from the byproduct of these Power Plants. Please read our story, our link. It off-gasses, Carbonyl Sulfide to just name one, a Fumigant for Pests...approved by the EPA...NOT for drywall. This continues to be a severe problem, unknowingly sickened Men, Woman and Children. It presents as allergies, sinuses, etc and continues to full blown asthma, we are listed as being Poisoned by the CPSC. Joseph and Julie Mraz. This is what our homes have in them...by product of coal, there is no such thing as clean coal.
The thumbnail version is that hydrogen/oxygen combustion produces only pure, virgin water, in the form of steam capable of driving those previously-coal-fired steam turbines directly... there is no exhaust, and therefore zero-carbon-footprint.
Conversion can proceed in parallel to ongoing coal-fired operations, allowing a transition to hydrogen-fired operations over the course of a long weekend... saving all those jobs, and ushering in the foundation of the much-anticipated new hydrogen economy.
Kind of ironic that two of the dirtiest power plants in the nation can be converted to cutting-edge renewable energy showcases, putting Chicago on the map as a leader in the field.
www.nativesunenergy.us
deeskwared@att.net
There is a new clean energy technology that is one tenth the cost of coal. LENR using nickel. Incredibly: Ni+H(heated under pressure)=Cu+lots of heat.
This phenomenon (LENR) has been confirmed in hundreds of published scientific papers: http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJtallyofcol.pdf
"Over 2 decades with over 100 experiments worldwide indicate LENR is real, much greater than chemical..." --Dennis M. Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
"Energy density many orders of magnitude over chemical." Michael A. Nelson, NASA
"Total replacement of fossil fuels for everything but synthetic organic chemistry." --Dr. Joseph M. Zawodny, NASA
By the way, here is a survey of all the companies that are bringing LENR to commercialization: http://www.cleantechblog.com/2011/08/the-new-breed-of-energy-catalyzers-ready-for-commercialization.html
There is a new clean energy technology that is one tenth the cost of coal. LENR using nickel. Incredibly: Ni+H(heated under pressure)=Cu+lots of heat.
This phenomenon (LENR) has been confirmed in hundreds of published scientific papers: http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJtallyofcol.pdf
"Over 2 decades with over 100 experiments worldwide indicate LENR is real, much greater than chemical..." --Dennis M. Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
"Energy density many orders of magnitude over chemical." Michael A. Nelson, NASA
"Total replacement of fossil fuels for everything but synthetic organic chemistry." --Dr. Joseph M. Zawodny, NASA
By the way, here is a survey of all the companies that are bringing LENR to commercialization: http://www.cleantechblog.com/2011/08/the-new-breed-of-energy-catalyzers-ready-for-commercialization.html