Illusration by Emily Keegin & Maayan Pearl
The Fisk Generating Station in the working-class Pilsen neighborhood on Chicago's Lower West Side once symbolized the future. The largest of its kind when it opened, the single-stack, coal-fired plant powered factories and residences throughout a growing metropolis.
That was in 1903. Today, Fisk and its slightly younger sister, the Crawford Generating Station, located nearby in another densely packed area, are relics: two of the more than 200 "legacy" coal-burning plants nationwide that were grandfathered in under 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act. As a result of legislative compromise, these aging plants remain exempt from some of the act's main requirements that industrial facilities use modern pollution control methods.
Living in Pilsen provides a time-travel experience to an era when the air in American cities was grittier and more dangerous. "Around here, you get this thin gray film of dust on your windowpane and on the patio furniture," says Jerry Mead-Lucero, a local activist who lives near Fisk. "A lot of people don't have air conditioning, so the windows are open in the warm weather, and dust gets into your home or apartment."
And your lungs. Fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emitted by the Fisk and Crawford plants exacerbate respiratory and cardiac conditions, according to public health advocates. A study led by a Harvard School of Public Health professor and published in 2002 in the journal Atmospheric Environment linked the two Chicago plants to 41 premature deaths a year, as well as 550 emergency room visits. As if that weren't enough, Mead-Lucero points out, electricity from Fisk doesn't even go to local residents; the grid sends it to customers elsewhere.
Lawmakers gave Fisk, Crawford, and their ilk a Clean Air Act pass based on the expectation that the old plants would soon close anyway because of decrepitude and inefficiency. The act requires that if such plants are modernized, their owners have to bring them up to code. Congress didn't anticipate that some power companies would forgo modernization. "A lot of utilities have used chewing gum, duct tape, and rubber bands to keep the old plants running, while arguing in court that the changes are merely 'routine maintenance,'" says Henry Henderson, Midwest program director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit NRDC has sued—so far unsuccessfully—to try to force Fisk and Crawford to clean up or shut down.
The plants' owner, Midwest Generation, a unit of Rosemead (Calif.)-based Edison International (EIX), says that it cares about the environment and public health. It also says it obeys the Clean Air Act and all other relevant laws. Over the years the company has reduced the release of mercury and certain other contaminants, adds Douglas McFarlan, Midwest Generation's senior vice-president for public affairs. "We have no problem with the rules continuing to get tougher and tougher," he says. "Our analysis shows, though, that even if our plants closed, you would not see a real difference in Chicago. There are a lot of sources of pollution, and you have to look at the situation holistically."
The confounding problem of Chicago's antiquated power plants is more than a local concern. The situation sheds light on a debate unfolding 700 miles away in Washington over whether to step up enforcement of the Clean Air Act or slip back in the direction of Pilsen.
At least 19 Republican-sponsored bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress seeking to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from taking actions such as limiting emission of climate-warming greenhouse gases and imposing tougher rules for ground-level pollutants such as mercury. Republicans and their industry allies warn that assertive regulation will hurt energy providers like Midwest Generation, killing jobs in a fragile economy. "Left unchecked, EPA's actions would have a devastating impact on jobs, U.S. competitiveness, and domestic energy prices," Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said on Apr. 7 after the House passed legislation he wrote forbidding the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
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