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Cleaning Up Chicago's Fossil Fuel Spill
E-COnnections July 2010 - Volume 5, Issue 4
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Call your Alderman today and ask him or her to support and co-sponsor the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance! Don't know how to find your Alderman? Just click here and enter your street address.
Help EJC Start a
Great Lakes Chicago Bioneers Chapter!
Bioneers is about HOPE. This annual conference is a leading-edge forum where tomorrow is unfolded with solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity.
Bioneers visionaries are already creating the healthy, diverse, and equitable world we want to live in. These solutions may be our legacy for the future and the web of life on which our lives depend.
EJC is just
beginning to draw organizations together to catalyze a 2011 conference
in Chicago. Are you interested in helping launch the Chicago effort? Click here to contact us .... and we'll be in touch with you right away!
August Delegation to
Coal River Valley, WV!
We have one space left to fill. Are you interested? Click here for a flier and here to contact us.
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Greetings!
The environmental and economic tragedy now playing out in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the BP oil spill should be a stark reminder of the real costs of our addiction to fossil fuels and our need to begin an immediate transition to energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy sources. But, Chicago has its own "spill", two, very old coal-fired power plants located within heavily populated areas of the city.
While the electricity from these plants is sold outside the Chicago market, area residents bear the social and environmental costs. Particulate matter from the Fisk and Crawford plants contributes to lung cancer, heart attacks, premature deaths and acute and chronic bronchitis. The economic impact of increased medical care, missed school days and work absenteeism is borne by all who live in Chicago.
Did You Know....
- The Fisk power plant in Pilsen and the
Crawford power plant in Little Village were built early in the last
century. In fact, the Fisk coal plant was built before the Model T was
invented!
- Chicago is the only major urban area with not only
one, but two coal plants within its limits. More people live near Fisk
and Crawford than any other power plant in the U.S.
- Over the past three years alone, Fisk and Crawford have
spewed nearly 50,000 tons of pollution into the air we breathe.
- In 2007, these two plants emitted nearly 5
million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent
to more than half the cars in the city of Chicago.
- Chicago has home rule authority to enact
ordinances that protect the health and well being of its residents.
Chicago has already used its home rule authority to address air
pollution by adopting and then amending an Air Quality Ordinance.
- Regulation of pollution from coal plants
is nothing new. The Clean Air Act has been around for over 40 years, and
regulation under the Clean Air Act has significantly expanded at least
half a dozen times in that period.
Take Action Today!
Mayor Daley
and the City Council now have an opportunity to clean up the ongoing
Fisk and Crawford spill. A measure called the Clean Power Ordinance,
now bottled up in the Rules Committee of the City Council, would require
the plants to reduce their emissions of particulate matter and
greenhouse gases to levels consistent with best available practices.
The ordinance is experiencing a groundswell of public support, and is
endorsed by a rapidly growing coalition of community, environmental and
business organizations.
Call your Alderman today. Tell him or
her that you want Chicago to be the greenest city in the nation. A good
place to start is with the air we breathe. Ask your alderman to co-sponsor the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance, which will cut soot pollution and significantly reduce
Chicago's carbon footprint. It's time for the City Council to take the
lead.
Don't know how to find your alderman? Click here and enter
your street address. Then report back to us by using this form!
EJC
Happenings...
Visit our events calendar for summer "happenings". Be sure to
join us for one or more of the following:
July 14, 2010 Community Forum, The Church of St. Paul & the Redeemer, Hyde
Park.
July
15, 2010 Press Conference, Chicago Clean Power Ordinance, Dvorak Park, Pilsen.
July 22, 2010,
Peace and Environment Forum, Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, Chicago.
August 6, 7 and 8 Delegation to Coal River
Valley, West Virgina. This is an opportunity to learn about the true environmental, social and economic costs of our fossil-fuel based economy. We've got just one space left to fill! Click here if you are interested.
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Eco-Justice
Collaborative links our lifestyles to our unconstrained use of
resources, pollution, global climate change and global poverty and
resource wars. This information is not intended to make us all feel
guilty, but rather to raise consciousness and provide incentives to find
ways to live that are more sustainable, giving back life to our
precious earth and all who inhabit it.
Visit our website for recommended actions for change that both individually and collectively will reduce our impact on our world, and move our country toward just, sustainable living for all.
Sincerely,
Pam and Lan Richart
Eco-Justice Collaborative
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