The sale of five Illinois coal-fueled electricity plants from Ameren to Texas-based Dynegy hinges on an Illinois Pollution Control Board decision to extend the same consideration to Dynegy it has already given Ameren.
The would-be buyer wants a five-year extension of a deadline to meet stricter clean-air standards – from 2015 to 2020.
The plants in question are at Bartonville, Canton, Coffeen, Joppa, and Newton.
The board is expected to rule in a few weeks after a day of testimony on Tuesday.
Sierra Club “Beyond Coal” organizing representative Kady McFadden says she hopes the board says no to Dynegy: “The Respiratory Health Association has estimated that those five years will account for about 125 premature deaths and 2,000 asthma attacks,” she says.
McFadden says what Dynegy is really asking for is “permission to pollute.”
