A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that 94% of the coal Illinois burned in 2008 wasn't from Illinois mines. Illinois spent $1.49 billion on imported coal in a single year, mostly from Wyoming.
It's no coincidence that the top coal importer, Midwest Generation, also operates several of the state's dirtiest power plants. Why is that?
Wyoming coal is lower in some pollutants than Illinois coal. That leaves plant operators with two options. Option one is to install new pollution control equipment that would allow them to use Illinois coal and reduce the amount of toxins they release into the air. It's one of those times when doing what's best for the environment is also better for our local economy.
Springfield's publicly-owned CWLP is one of the few operators to take this option. They installed equipment on their existing plants, and the new Dallman 4 unit, that allows them to burn Illinois coal while still producing less air pollution than other coal plants in the state. They're supplied by a central Illinois mine.
Apart from that rare exception, most Illinois coal plant operators choose the second option: importing coal from other states. A coalition of organizations are pushing Midwest Generation to reduce pollutants from their aging plants in Chicago. The Illinois Attorney General, EPA and others have taken legal action in repeated efforts to make them clean up their plants.
But, Midwest Generation would rather not spend too much money on new pollution control equipment. They want to invest as little as possible in aging plants until they're shut down. That means importing coal instead of reducing air pollution and creating jobs in Illinois mines.
A different revelation in UCS's report bothered me most. "Dynegy’s Baldwin Energy Complex, in Randolph County, is the most import-dependent power facility in Illinois, having spent $209 million in 2008."
The people of Southern Illinois are told endless fairy tells by politicians promising that one day coal will revive the regional economy. They pretend that the good old days of a coal dependent economy is their only hope for new jobs. And yet, a plant in the middle of a region desperate for jobs is importing massive amounts of coal from Wyoming and companies engaged in mountaintop removal mining.
The EPA and others were forced to sue Dynegy to enforce clean air laws at its Baldwin plant. Nearly half of their recent modifications to reduce emissions were subsidized by taxpayers through a Department of Energy clean coal program, but they're still burning imported coal. More recently, the plant was named on EPA's list of the country's 40 worst producers of coal ash waste. Two other Illinois plants operated by the company were rated as "high hazard" coal ash sites that present a risk to human safety.
So what does this all mean? Coal companies don't care about creating jobs in Southern Illinois. They care about cutting costs and maximizing profits, no matter how much it harms the economy and health of the communities they operate in.
If Illinois is going to develop a new energy economy then we need state leaders to stop peddling false hope on behalf of the coal industry and start creating real clean energy jobs. That's option three outlined in the report.
Investments in energy efficiency and homegrown renewable energy can help stimulate the economy by redirecting funds into local economic development—funds that would otherwise leave the state.