Fisk Generating Station, 1111 W. Cermak Rd.
File 2010/Staff

A new regulation from the federal government targeting pollution from power plants could affect how a coal-fired plant in Pilsen operates.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled their landmark Hazardous Air Pollutant rule Dec. 21 — a federal regulation to control mercury emissions and other toxic substances that cause respiratory illness and brain damage.

Midwest Generation, which controls the Fisk coal-fired power plant in Pilsen and Crawford coal plant in Little Village, seized on the announcement. The energy company pointed out that they’ve already worked with the state EPA to reduce mercury emissions.

But Fisk and Crawford could effectively shut down anytime — whenever the City Council and Rahm Emanuel return to the Clean Power Ordinance.

The ordinance — now sponsored and spearheaded by Pilsen Ald. Danny Solis (25th) — has the support of 35 of the City Council’s 50 aldermen and Emanuel’s qualified support.

“Solis has really taken the lead on this,” said Jerry Mead-Lucero, an organizer for the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization.

The Clean Power Ordinance would, among other environmental rules, make Fisk and Crawford reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent — a requirement that would probably either force the plants to close or convert their emissions from coal to natural gas.

But while the Clean Power Ordinance might be the biggest priority for some Pilsen and Little Village residents, the City Council hasn’t treated Fisk and Crawford’s air pollution as that urgent.

The legislation has sat in the Committee on Health and Environmental Protection since September. Committee chairman George Cardenas (12th) wants a Clean Power Ordinance hearing in the first couple months of the year. “We will have a series of hearings coming into the year and Clean Power is one of them,” Cardenas said.

But Cardenas added that the health committee must also hold hearings on the city’s public health budget and the planned closure of half of Chicago’s twelve mental health clinics. “We are going to juggle a set of priorities,” Cardenas said, adding, “I don’t have an idea of the council schedule for next year.”

The U.S. EPA rule for controlling power plant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollution has been anticipated for years — a federal court threw out a George W. Bush administration version in 2008. Even this new rule will not go into effect until 2015.

So some states, including Illinois, adopted their own rules. Under a 2007 state regulation, Midwest Generation started cooperating with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency over mercury emissions.

“Midwest Generation has been among the industry’s leaders in developing and installing mercury emission controls at its plants dating back to 2008-09,” read a Midwest Generation press release.

Midwest Generation also said that “nearly all of the company’s generating units are now reducing mercury emissions by more than 90 percent.”

Susan Olavarria, a spokeswoman for Midwest Generation, would not comment on the Clean Power Ordinance or other negotiations that might be going on between the company and the city — particularly the Mayor’s office — to shut down Fisk and Crawford.

Emanuel spokesman Tarrah Cooper said that the mayor, “supports the intent of the [Clean Power] ordinance to protect public health and the environment and will likely support the ordinance with revisions.”

Cooper would not say what those revisions are.

Also, Cooper would not comment on an October article in Crain’s Chicago Business, reporting that Emanuel and Midwest Generation had reached an agreement to shut down the plant.

Crain’s reported that Emanuel, the power company, and the Illinois state government reached a deal where if Fisk and Crawford shut down, the state would give Midwest Generation subsidies for a struggling wind farm it operates in Northwest Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly, though, has not introduced any legislation regarding either subsidies for Midwest Generation or an initiative to shut down the plants.

So the mayor’s role is unclear. Demonstrators sat outside Emanuel’s fifth floor City Hall office Dec. 20, demanding the mayor support the ordinance — or at least push the City Council to take action.

Mead-Lucero said that it was his understanding that any compromise between the mayor and the energy company fizzled. “Other options have pretty much fallen by the way side,” Mead-Lucero said.

Mead-Lucero, though, is confident the Clean Power Ordinance will prevail, with the mayor signing the ordinance into law.

“This is going to happen,” Mead-Lucero said. “The question is timing,”