CHICAGO— Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill Wednesday that'll allow a new energy plant to be built on Chicago's Southeast Side, and it's expected to create about 1,200 jobs.
The Governor signed the legislation at the site of where an old steel mill once sat, located at 114th and Burley.
The new plant will cost $3 billion to build, and would be constructed on 140 acres.
The plant will convert coal to natural gas and open a market for Illinois coal.
"We believe in this project. It's a clean energy project," Quinn said.
"The best way to help the most peple is a j-o-b, and that's what this all about," added Quinn.
"Today's announcement brings closer to reality the opportunity to put thousands of local men and women to work," said 10th Ward Alderman John Pope.
Quinn vetoed earlier versions of the bill after groups claimed consumers would be saddled with price increases of up to $191 per year for three decades. The new legislation contains consumer protections, including rate caps, to ensure residential customers do not see their natural gas bills increase more than 2 percent per year.
Leucadia National Corp. will build the plant.
"We do not want to be beholden to foreign potentates who have a stranglehold on America's energy supply," Quinn said.
Sierra Club's "beyond coal" campaign, said Tuesday the group is disappointed the bill will become law.
"Creating synthetic natural gas is a very dirty way of getting our natural gas," she said, adding that the law will saddle consumers with expensive natural gas for 10 to 30 years. "It's dirty, it's dangerous and it's unnecessary."
Rather than burning coal and sending byproducts through a smokestack, the plants would chemically convert coal and refinery waste into gas and byproducts that are collected, sold or reused. The synthetic natural gas produced would then be used to heat Illinois homes.
The state's four major gas utilities would buy its synthetic natural gas for 30 years at a price set by formula. Consumers would pay for the gas through their utility bills. The bill guarantees that consumers will save $100 million over 30 years. The plant is expected to bring 200 permanent jobs by 2015.
Despite gaining Quinn's approval, the plant is not a done deal.
Leucadia does not yet have permission to add pollution to a crowded industrial area in Chicago and has not pinned down a buyer for its carbon dioxide emissions. The owners of the proposed plant site also are locked in a legal battle to persuade the state to let it sell its permission to pollute to Leucadia along with the site. The Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency has opposed the sale of the pollution offsets.
Earlier this year, community and environmental groups opposing Leucadia's proposed plant flooded Quinn's office with postcards, phone calls and letters asking him to veto the bill. Protesters expressed concerns the plant would add more pollution to their neighborhood, where the air contains the state's highest levels of toxic heavy metals -- chromium and cadmium -- as well as sulfates, which can trigger asthma attacks and increase the risk of heart disease.
The legislation requires that 85 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions be captured and sequestered or the company could be fined $20 million. Leucadia said its plant would create about one-hundredth of the pollution of traditional coal-fired power plants.
Different legislation awaiting Quinn's signature would allow a $1 billion Southern Illinois plant proposed by Power Holdings of Illinois.
http://www.cltv.com/news/wgntv-quinn-coal-plant-july13,0,506183.story
Loading...
4:29
MEMORIES THE VIDEOby esantos2000305 views
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)