Victory: Grassroots Pressure Leads to Closure of Two Highly Polluting Coal Plants in Chicago

Marking a grassroots victory, Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of Edison International, will retire two of the oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation. Activists have been working for the past ten years to close the two plants...

February 29, 2012 | Source: Common Dreams | by

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Marking a grassroots victory, Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of Edison International, will retire two of the oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation. Activists have been working for the past ten years to close the two plants located in Chicago.

Agreements signed by Midwest Generation, the Clean Power Coalition, and the City of Chicago indicate that the Fisk coal plant in Pilsen will shut down in 2012 and the Crawford coal plant in Little Village will shut down by 2014.

Jeff Biggers reports on the news today:

 In a move that should electrify the clean energy movement across the country, the tireless champions with the Chicago Clean Power Coalition have announced that Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of multinational giant Edison International, will soon shut down the Windy City’s two Model-T-era coal-fired plants.

 The historic victory, after a decade-long battle, marks a shift in the clean energy battle for the country: If Chicago, once hailed as the “world’s largest market of coal,” can go coal free, the rest of the nation must surely be close behind them.

 Thanks to one of the most determined, diverse and successful clean energy campaigns in the nation–including a breakthrough campaign to pass a Clean Power ordinance–the retirement of the decrepit and deadly Fisk and Crawford coal-fired plants will end the century-long reign of the most toxic polluters in the heartland.