On January 5, Governor Blagojevich announced his proposal to set strict mercury emissions limits for coal fired power plants. The proposal calls for a 90 percent reduction in emissions by June 30, 2009. Each plant would have to reduce emissions by at least 75 percent, as long as the average reductions for a company's plants were 90 percent. By 2012 all plants would have to meet the 90 percent requirement.

Illinois would become only the fourth state in the country to implement such stringent standards, and the first non-east coast state to do so. The proposal goes well beyond the Bush Administration's mercury rules issued last year by US EPA. According to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data, Illinois ranks fifth in the nation for coal plant mercury emissions, with 4,125 pounds released in 2003.

The proposal will be forwarded to the Pollution Control Board for approval, and then will be reviewed by the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. It will likely take until October 2006 for the plan to receive all necessary approvals.

Governor Blagojevich's proposal comes after several years of advocacy by IEC and other groups asking for such a step to be taken. IEC Executive Director Jonathan Goldman spoke at the press conference, thanking the governor for his leadership. Representatives from the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Illinois PIRG and Sierra Club also spoke in support of the proposal.

view the governor's press release