COAL IN THE HEARTLAND

Date:	Saturday, March 24, 2012
Time:	1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Presented by:	Heart Of Illinois Group
Leader:	Joyce Blumenshine, IL Conservation Chair, Sierra Club – 309-688-0950 joblumen@yahoo.com Brian Perbix Prairie Rivers Network – 217-344-2371 bperbix@prairierivers.org
Location:	407 S Broadway St, Havana, IL 62644, US

Join us for a multimedia presentation on the growing movement to protect the health of land, water and people in the heart of America from coal’s deadly impacts

In Illinois and across the country, powerful interests are getting behind “clean coal” as a local solution to our energy problems. Unfortunately, clean coal is a myth – from the coal mines to the power plants, coal is the dirtiest way to meet our electric needs. Join local residents and water quality professionals from the Heartland Coalfield Alliance for a multimedia presentation that explores the implications our energy choices have on the health of water and communities in Illinois’ coalfields.

Strip mining, room and pillar and longwall mining for coal are destroying land, displacing people, and polluting clean water across the Illinois coal basin.  At the other end of the coal cycle, toxic coal ash dumps are threatening the health and safety of nearby residents. Learn about the history of Illinois’ coalfields, the ravages of the current Illinois coal boom, and how communities are standing up to protect their health and well-being from coal’s devastating impacts.

Hosted by:

Heartland Coalfield Alliance

•Prairie Rivers Network

•Illinois Sierra Club, Heart of Illinois Group

The Heartland Coalfield Alliance is a collaborative movement that includes community groups, students and nonprofits in Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky. We advocate for residents of the Illinois Coal Basin, whose communities bear the burden of our country’s reliance on coal for electricity. Since 2010, we have been a leader in the effort to promote a just and sustainable transition away from coal and towards a cleaner energy economy in America’s Heartland.

Community Choice Aggregation the topic of discussion!

Tonight’s Green Drinks of Peoria meeting will focus on the Community Choice Aggregation vote coming up on the ballot. City and County officials will be in attendance to answer questions about this topic and how its possible we could be a powerful advocate for renewable energy with this group energy purchase. Please attend to ask any questions you may have about the question on the ballot for you to vote on later this month.

The Green Drinks of Peoria meeting is tonight, 3/1 with social time at 5:30 and meeting starting at 6 pm at the Rhythm Kitchen on Water Street in downtown Peoria.

North Canton Mine issue will be on At Issue

The PJ Star reports “At Issue” will host spokesmen for & against the North Canton Mine issue on Fridays show. It will air on WTVP on Friday at 8:30 pm. Please watch it to stayed informed on the topic.

Starved Rock needs your help!

There is a sand mine proposed for some land near Starved Rock. There’s potential for interruption of some very delicate areas. Please take action by contacting LaSalle County Board members & express your interest in protecting Starved Rock State Park. Read below for more information.

From Prairie Rivers Network Website: www.prairierivers.org

If you have time for just one call, the board chair is Jerry Hicks, 815-795-2608.

A proposed sand mine adjacent to Starved Rock State Park could drain a rare, brackish wetland, with high quality plant communities and specific habitat for threatened and endangered species. The noise generated from blasting and constant truck traffic will have a negative impact on the wildlife populations that inhabit the area.

Starved Rock State Park receives over 2 million visitors annually; many of whom come to view the abundant wildlife that occur in the area, such as the bald eagles that overwinter there and the white pelicans that migrate to the Illinois Valley in spring and fall.

It’s not too late to let members of the LaSalle County Board know that you oppose locating this mine near Starved Rock. Please take the time to call board members and voice your concern.

In December, the LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously in favor of the Permit. However, the proposal will go before the full LaSalle County Board on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 for a final vote.

Please contact the County Board Members or attend the County Board Meeting in support of Starved Rock State Park.

When: Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 1 PM

Where: Knights of Columbus Hall at 401 W. Main Street in Ottawa, Illinois

IL EPA Public Hearing for mining permits upstream of Canton Lake 12/6/11 at 5:00 & 7:30 p.m.

Sierra Club and Prairie Rivers Network have teamed up to help Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues concerning the proposed mining permits to be issued to Capital Resources Development to allow strip mining near Copperas Creek and in the watershed of Canton Lake.  The IL EPA is hosting public hearings to hear the concerns of the public on how this project will affect them and to ask questions and learn more about the proposed mining project.  You can help by attending the public hearings.  They will be held on 12/6/11 at the Donaldson Center, 250 S. Ave. D, Canton, IL at 5:00 p.m. for the NPDES Water Discharge Permit and at 7:30 p.m. for the 401 Water Quality Certification.  If you are concerned about water pollution from the coal mine, these hearings are your chance to voice your concerns.  You can speak or simply show up.  Your presence on the side of the environmental groups will make a difference.  Please attend!

More information is available in earlier blogs, at the Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues website:  www.savecantonlake.com; www.epa.state.il.us/public-notices/2011/capital-resources-develpmnet/index.pdf; www.epa.state.il.us/public-notices/2011/north-canton-mine/index.pdf.

You can also call Gov. Quinn’s office and ask that these permits not be issued.  217-782-0244.

You can also submit written comments before 12/26/11 to Hearing Officer Dean Struder, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, 1021 North Grand Ave. E., PO Box 19276, Springfield, IL  62794-9276.  You must specify Capital Resources Development Company NPDES in the correspondence.

We can direct you to others if you want more information.