Since proposing to remove one coal ash pond from the site of its decommissioned electric plant in Waukegan and cap another beside it in 2021, Houston-based NRG Energy has yet to begin the project or remedy coal ash contamination to the adjacent 10-acre grassy field.
Though members of the Illinois General Assembly, local officials and environmental leaders want to see both ponds completely removed, NRG has resisted those efforts, as well as those of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to remediate the grassy field.
Shortly after NRG announced its proposal in December of 2021, state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, and state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, introduced legislation to require that all coal ash ponds along Lake Michigan in Illinois be removed.
Easily gaining approval in the state Senate in early 2022, Mayfield did not bring the bill to the House floor because she said she was several votes short of a majority. She reintroduced the bill in 2023, and again this year. It remains a few votes short of the majority, she said. She said NRG has lobbied hard against it.
“They’ve done nothing except intensely lobby against legislation,” Mayfield said. “They’ve spent countless dollars hiring lawyers to appeal court orders. They’ve done nothing but shirk their responsibilities. It’s time for them to get the coal ash away from the lakefront.”
Before making its proposal on the ponds in December of 2021, NRG tried to persuade the Illinois Pollution Control Board that the IEPA’s rules were not applicable. The board ruled in March that NRG must obey. NRG asked the board for a stay while it appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court.
The Illinois Pollution Control Board denied NRG’s request for a stay during the appellate process on June 25 in Chicago, ruling the public will continue to be burdened by the existing contamination.
In its ruling, the board wrote that NRG has avoided “permitting oversight” despite rules that were put in place more than four years ago.
“A stay would impose a considerable hardship on the public because (the grassy field) — a demonstrated source of groundwater contamination — would remain outside IEPA’s permitting oversight,” the court wrote.
Erik Linden, a spokesperson for NRG, said in an email that the company is evaluating the board’s decision before it decides its “next steps.” It has 35 days from June 25 to appeal the stay order to the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District, according to Illinois law.
After the board issued its March 20 order in a unanimous 5-0 decision, NRG appealed to the Second District Appellate Court. The case remains pending there.
With remediation of the grassy field in the hands of the Second District Appellate Court, Marie Tipsord, an attorney with the board, said the removal or capping of the coal ash ponds is in the hands of the IEPA, which must issue a permit for the work.
Though originally NRG planned to remove the East Pond and cap the West Pond, the company now plans to cap both ponds, “by installing a final cover system over the impoundment,” according to the plan the company filed with IEPA.
Linden said NRG submitted operating and closure permits to the IEPA in a timely manner, and is “awaiting their response.”
Mayfield said she plans to continue working with her colleagues in the state legislature to get enough votes to approve her proposed law requiring all coal ash ponds near Lake Michigan to be removed. She is growing more hopeful that the recent court decisions will help lead to a good outcome.
“They are sending a message to NRG that this is the direction things are going,” she said. “At some point, they are going to take responsibility and remove the coal ash ponds from our lakefront.”