Environmental News For The Week Ending 06 March 2019 econintersect.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from econintersect.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Originally published on March 3, 2021 10:58 am
Environmentalists in Illinois worry that having few regulations for coal-fired power plant demolitions will increase the chance for a toxic disaster when these facilities are dismantled.
Since 2009, 12 of the state’s 23 remaining coal power plants have closed, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Five more, all owned by Vistra Energy, are set to close this decade, according to an announcement from the company. One of those is in Baldwin, 40 miles southeast of St. Louis.
Six others will either close some generating units or have no official retirement dates.
“We’re hitting this big transition moment; all these power plants are going to close,” said Andrew Rehn, a civil engineer at Prairie Rivers Network, which works on water, land and pollution issues across Illinois. “We just don’t have a plan, and it’s coming across the state.”
Belleville News-Democrat
Workers watch from a safe distance as the main structure of the former Wood River Power Plant in East Alton is brought down by explosives on Feb. 1. There aren t established regulations in Illinois for how to demolish an old coal plant, leaving environmentalists worried there will be toxic disaster when more of these plants are demolished.
Environmentalists in Illinois worry that having few regulations for coal-fired power plant demolitions will increase the chance for a toxic disaster when these facilities are dismantled.
Since 2009, 12 of the state’s 23 remaining coal power plants have closed, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Five more, all owned by Vistra Energy, are set to close this decade, according to an announcement from the company. One of those is in Baldwin, 40 miles southeast of St. Louis.