Preventing a toxic legacy

As Ted Craver and Edison International convene their Annual General Meeting today, community residents in Chicago consider the future use of the sites of Fisk and Crawford, the city’s two coal plants. Edison agreed to close the plants in response to overwhelming grassroots support months ago. Solutions for how to deal with potential contamination have been more elusive. Community activists are well represented in a process to discuss these solutions and things are moving forward. Representatives from LVEJO, PERRO and Pilsen Alliance have been taking solutions right to Mayor Emmanuel. While this is encouraging, Edison has been hesitant to assume clean-up responsibilities at the plants. If Edison is not held accountable, Chicago taxpayers could end picking up the clean-up tab. Calling on those who have suffered from decades of pollution to clean the plants up when it is Edison who has profited from their operation is simply unjust. Let’s turn Fisk & Crawford into bright spots, not blight spots in the Pilsen and Little Village communities. Join us in calling on Ted Craver and Edison International to avert a toxic legacy and clean up the Fisk and Crawford sites once and for all.

Coal Plants Shut Down: Community Activists Show their Strength

Earlier this week, Edison International announced that they would shut down the Fisk and Crawford coal plants – a victory for the books! After ten years of gritty and determined grassroots work, communities in Chicago triumphed over the corporate polluter in their back yard. On the same day, citizens in Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania celebrated the announcement that Houston-based GenOn would shut an additional 7 plants, including the Portland Generating Station where Greenpeace worked with NJ and PA residents to demand clean air for their community. Continue reading

Our Voice Was Heard – Leila Mendez on the Closing of Chicago’s Coal Plants

VIDEO: Leila Mendez, a member of the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO), speaking at today’s press conference on the closure of Chicago’s dirty coal plants.

Today, dozens of Pilsen and Little Village residents, along with members of the Chicago Clean Power Coalition gathered across the street from the Fisk coal plant to celebrate the news that two archaic coal plants in Chicago will soon shut down. Continue reading