some good news- fisk and crawford coal plants to close
Residents, community groups and activists who've protested and made phone calls for decades got a big payoff this week with the announcement that Chicago's Fisk and Crawford coal plants are closing.
"This is a great victory for all residents, but very special for those who fought hard to make it happen," said Rosalie Mancera of The Pilsen Alliance, a community organization on the city's lower west side.
The plants, in Pilsen and the Little Village, had been mandated by state officials to clean up or shut down by 2018. Fisk will now close by the end of the year and Crawford will shut down by the end of 2014.
"This is big, big news for us," said Jerry Mead-Lucero with P.E.R.R.O, the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization. "We would have loved if it hadn't taken 10 years to get here, but we're thrilled that it's happening and it's about time. I mean, these two power plants have been polluting the communities here in Chicago for over 100 years, so to finally have a victory it means a lot. And because of the health impacts these plants have on the community it's going to have a major impact."
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/green/fisk-crawford-coal-plants-to-close-140925053.html#ixzz1nsZcayCv