Progress Illinois

Overshadowed by the prolonged and ultimately fruitless debate on a big tax break bill, the Illinois Senate used an extra day of their fall veto session, November 29, to approve a coal-to-gas plant in Taylorville, Illinois, by a 30-28 vote. It is estimated to cost state utility ratepayers $3.5 billion.

The Senate had twice rejected the proposed Taylorville Energy Center to be run by Omaha-based Tenaska, Inc., including as recently as Oct. 27.

But a parliamentary maneuver by bill sponsor John Cullerton (D-Chicago), the Senate president, kept the energy plant alive and now the bill goes to the House. A similar measure narrowly passed the House in November 2010.
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A coalition of environmental groups Tuesday rebuked the recent efforts of some Congressional lawmakers to roll back plans to implement more stringent federal clean air rules on power plants, contending the move would significantly impact public health within the Chicago area.

At the center of the debate have been two newly-proposed Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act rules – the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants – intended to reduce the amount of pollutants emitted by facilities such as the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants, located on the Chicago’s Southwest Side.

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