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Volume 270 January 24, 2012
Coal plants dominate list of Chicago's biggest polluters
Fed by a steady stream of coal barges, the aging power plants that loom over Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods are by far the city's largest industrial sources of climate change pollution.
No other polluter comes close to the 4.2 million metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide churned into the atmosphere by the two coal plants in 2010, according to a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency database that for the first time allows people to compare major industrial sources of greenhouse gases.
The city's next biggest source, a heating plant at the University of Illinois at Chicago, trailed far behind. It emitted 132,000 metric tons.
About 6,700 power plants, refineries, steel mills and other major polluters are required under a 2008 federal law to provide detailed annual reports on their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases that contribute to climate change. The first results highlight the nation's reliance on coal as an energy source and show why fossil fuel interests are lobbying fiercely to block federal and state efforts to limit the pollution.
Though burning oil and natural gas also releases greenhouse gases. Coal plants account for all but four of the top 100 emitters nationwide and more than 70 percent of emissions from big industrial sources, according to a Tribune analysis of the EPA data.
Two of the other four are steel mills in northwest Indiana -- the U.S. Steel Gary Works and an Arcelor Mittal plant in East Chicago -- that top the rankings in the broader Chicago metropolitan area. Others in the local top 10 include the BP refinery in Whiting and the Exxon Mobil refinery in Joliet.
Laws in Illinois and other states are requiring greater reliance on wind power and other renewable, pollution-free sources of energy. Yet the EPA data show how difficult it is to wean the U.S. from fossil fuels without a national policy, industry observers said.
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Electricity Pricing Areas -
Jan 24, 2012
February
| On-Peak |
Per kWh |
| Cinergy |
$.03050 |
| PJM West |
$.03853 |
ComEd Average Day Ahead LMP Electric Price
| Time Period | Average per Kwh |
| Jan 1 - Jan 31 2011 | $.03871 |
| Feb 1 – Feb 28 | $.03581 |
| Mar 1 – Mar 31 | $.03668 |
| April 1 – April 30 | $.03448 |
| May 1- May 31 | $.03954 |
| June 1 – June 31 | $.03851 |
| July 1 - July 30 | $.05170 |
| Aug 1 - Aug 31 | $.04064 |
| Sep 1 - Sep 30 | $.03058 |
| Oct 1 – Oct 31 | $.02968 |
| Nov 1 – Nov 30 | $.02816 |
| Dec 1 – Dec 31 | $.02971 |
| Jan 1 - Jan 23 2012 | $.03083 |
Weather Tonight: Considerable cloudiness. Low 26F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Wed: Cloudy. High 38F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow night: Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 33F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Thu: Mostly cloudy skies. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.Fri: Considerable cloudiness. Highs in the upper 30s and lows in the low 30s. Sat: Considerable cloudiness. Highs in the upper 30s and lows in the low 30s.
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