by Joyce Morrison
According the Alton Telegraph (which there is no link), Attorney General Lisa Madigan said that as a result of the coal-fired plant in Baldwin's failure to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act, Dynegy Midwest Generation, Inc. will be required to provide $15 million for environmental projects in Illinois.
- $1,545,000 to buy 92 acres of woods in Madison County
- $1.2 million for habitat restoration projects along the Illinois River, including $150,000 each to The Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited
- $7.5 million for mercury control
- $2.5 million for energy efficiency programs
- $2.25 million for a donation of 1,135 acres of property along the Middle Ford of the Vermillion River.
The funds were part of a May 2005 settlement between Dynegy, Madigan's office, the U.S. Department of Justice and several environmental organizations, including American Bottom Conservancy, Health and Environmental Justice-St. Louis, Inc., Illinois Stewardship Alliance and Prairie Rivers Network, according to the Edwardsville news account.
Under the consent decree in this case, Dynegy will spend more than half a billion dollars over the next 10 years to further control emissions from the Baldwin Station and four other power plants in Illinois.
Illinois is facing a financial crisis and yet $15 million in fines that could have been used by the state was distributed to private environmental organizations and for land purchase at the expense of the taxpayers. Will the customers of Dynegy take another hit on behalf of Madigan's generosity to the environmentalists?
