Residents of Chicago's southeast side are fighting pollution and high unemployment, but they would still like to have healthy lungs, thank you very much.
Hundreds of southeast Chicago residents took to the streets to protest the coal gasification plant that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn proposes to build right in their neighborhood. The protesters mistrust coal-generated energy, believing it will dirty their neighborhoods and compromise their health.
Southeast siders aren't the only unwilling victims here. The governor also proposes to force the state's gas companies to pay construction costs for the new facility, committing the state to coal production for the next thirty years. Neither the Sierra Club nor the Environmental Justice Alliance of Greater Southeast Chicago think the new plant will produce clean energy.
Two coal plants in Fisk and Crawford had to be closed. Why is the state still investing in coal? Tell Quinn not to force a coal plant on a neighborhood that doesn't want it.
We the undersigned think you should listen to the residents of southeast side Chicago. They do not want the coal gasification plant you propose for their neighborhood.
The government has touted this new facility as clean burning. However, residents of southeast side think it will further pollute their neighborhoods and compromise their health. These residents have a right to determine the uses of land in their community, especially when it comes to something as controversial and space-consuming as a coal plant.
Don't give southeast siders a coal plant they don't want!
