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[Southsider2k12]

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/michiga...73a7fc8cbc.html

The City Council is asking NIPSCO to remove all coal ash from the Michigan City Generating Station site when the plant closes in or before 2028.

The council unanimously passed a resolution to that effect recently, saying removal is preferable to placing a cap on coal ash that has accumulated at the century-old coal-fired power plant.

“This is all about protecting drinking water here in Michigan City,” said Councilman Bryant Dabney, D-1st, a cosponsor of the resolution.

Resident Joe Sherman commended Councilwoman Dalia Zygas, D-At-Large, for introducing the resolution. He lives near the plant, but said it’s vital to all people who enjoy walking the beach and who drink water from Lake Michigan.

Sherman, who praised NIPSCO for shifting toward clean energy sources, said while he wished the resolution had some teeth to it, the council is at least opening dialogue with NIPSCO on the issue.

Resident Ernie Halloran said if the coal ash is to be transported to Wheatfield, where NIPSCO’s Schahfer Generating Station will be converted to a natural gas-fired plant, how will the toxic waste be transported?

[Southsider2k12]

https://grist.org/accountability/new-epa-ru...acy-coal-waste/

Michigan City, Indiana, is located roughly 100 miles from Waukegan and is home to 32,000 residents, a third of them Black.

Indiana has the largest number of operational coal plants in the country and 100 coal ash sites. According to Earthjustice estimates, half of these sites are currently unregulated.

Ashley Williams is the executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, a nonprofit environmental justice organization based out of Michigan City.

She said the contamination is a “silent crisis” with roughly 2 million tons of toxic coal ash sitting near Lake Michigan. Michigan City’s coal-fired power plant sits in the shadow of nearby playgrounds, homes, and public beaches.


A cooling tower for a coal-powered power plant sits close to playgrounds in Michigan City, Indiana. Just Transition Northwest Indiana
The Michigan City Generating Station, owned by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, or NIPSCO, is still in operation. The coal plant has five ash ponds that are regulated under current federal rulings.

Like Waukegan, the NIPSCO site includes one currently unregulated man-made coal ash fill, which contains sediment, sand, and coal ash, and is used to buffer the coal plant from Lake Michigan’s waters.

The infrastructure that stops this material from spilling into Lake Michigan is aging and at risk of a “catastrophic release,” according to an engineering study authorized by Earthjustice.

According to Energy News Network, the seawall site contains roughly two million cubic yards of coal ash and areas of the pond go as deep as 40 feet in the ground. A NIPSCO spokesperson disputed the estimated amount of coal ash on the historic site, which the news site said is based on NIPSCO documents. In a statement to Grist, NIPSCO said there is an estimated 109,000 tons of leftover coal material outside of the ponds.

This seawall location would likely be regulated under the new EPA proposal.

In a statement, NIPSCO said it will “continue to monitor the progression of EPA’s latest proposal for regulations related to coal ash management and how this might apply to the work we’re already doing to comply with current regulations.”

Williams said the region’s history of industrial pollution is buried everywhere.

The nearby town of Pines, Michigan has been in a longstanding cleanup and legal battle dating back to the 1970s. For decades, NIPSCO dumped coal ash waste in the town’s landfill, used it to build roads, and gave it to residents to fill their yards and homes.

“It’s been a long road getting to this point,” she said.

The NIPSCO coal-fired power plant will close as early as 2026. Williams said she wants to ensure the site doesn’t get developed and turned into another site of environmental injustice.

She said Just Transition Northwest Indiana advocates for a statewide shift in energy production and wants both youth and current industry workers to be at the forefront of planning the future of the region.

“We’re trying to reclaim our power from polluters,” she said. “What’s happening in Michigan City is the beginning of what a just national transition could be.”