Illinois Pollution Control Board denies stay to NRG Energy: ‘They are going to … remove the coal ash ponds from our lakefront'
Though members of the Illinois General Assembly, local officials and environmental leaders want to see both ponds completely removed, NRG has resisted those efforts, as well as those of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to remediate the grassy field.
Shortly after NRG announced its proposal in December of 2021, state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, and state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, introduced legislation to require that all coal ash ponds along Lake Michigan in Illinois be removed.
Easily gaining approval in the state Senate in early 2022, Mayfield did not bring the bill to the House floor because she said she was several votes short of a majority. She reintroduced the bill in 2023, and again this year. It remains a few votes short of the majority, she said. She said NRG has lobbied hard against it.
'They've done nothing except intensely lobby against legislation,' Mayfield said. 'They've spent countless dollars hiring lawyers to appeal court orders. They've done nothing but shirk their responsibilities. It's time for them to get the coal ash away from the lakefront.'
Before making its proposal on the ponds in December of 2021, NRG tried to persuade the Illinois Pollution Control Board that the IEPA's rules were not applicable. The board ruled in March that NRG must obey. NRG asked the board for a stay while it appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court.
The Illinois Pollution Control Board denied NRG's request for a stay during the appellate process on June 25 in Chicago, ruling the public will continue to be burdened by the existing contamination.
In its ruling, the board wrote that NRG has avoided 'permitting oversight' despite rules that were put in place more than four years ago.
'A stay would impose a considerable hardship on the public because (the grassy field) — a demonstrated source of groundwater contamination — would remain outside IEPA's permitting oversight,' the court wrote.
Erik Linden, a spokesperson for NRG, said in an email that the company is evaluating the board's decision before it decides its 'next steps.' It has 35 days from June 25 to appeal the stay order to the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District, according to Illinois law.
After the board issued its March 20 order in a unanimous 5-0 decision, NRG appealed to the Second District Appellate Court. The case remains pending there.
With remediation of the grassy field in the hands of the Second District Appellate Court, Marie Tipsord, an attorney with the board, said the removal or capping of the coal ash ponds is in the hands of the IEPA, which must issue a permit for the work.
Though originally NRG planned to remove the East Pond and cap the West Pond, the company now plans to cap both ponds, 'by installing a final cover system over the impoundment,' according to the plan the company filed with IEPA.
Linden said NRG submitted operating and closure permits to the IEPA in a timely manner, and is 'awaiting their response.'
Mayfield said she plans to continue working with her colleagues in the state legislature to get enough votes to approve her proposed law requiring all coal ash ponds near Lake Michigan to be removed. She is growing more hopeful that the recent court decisions will help lead to a good outcome.
'They are sending a message to NRG that this is the direction things are going,' she said. 'At some point, they are going to take responsibility and remove the coal ash ponds from our lakefront.'
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The Intercept
10 hours ago
- The Intercept
U.S. Nonprofits Funnel Millions to Israeli Army Volunteers
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Since 2020, according to The Intercept's analysis of their tax forms, these organizations have spent over $26 million to recruit and support lone soldiers from initial drafting to reintegration. The groups provide subsidized apartments, therapy, wellness retreats, and equipment to Israeli military units. The Intercept reviewed five years of tax documents that show 2023 was the most lucrative year on record for lone soldier programs. After Israel began calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists in the wake of Hamas's October 7 attack, U.S. donors poured funding into the organizations. Each year from 2002 to 2020, between 3,000 and 4,000 lone soldiers served in the Israeli military, about a third of them from North America. Since October 7, 2023, it is estimated that 7,000 lone soldiers from the U.S. alone have either signed up or returned to Israel to serve. The programs have helped to prop up an Israeli military now facing its biggest recruitment crisis in decades. 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Federal law prohibits recruiting for foreign armies within U.S. borders, but it allows donations and promotion of foreign volunteering. Where, if at all, efforts to help American teens join the Israeli military run afoul of U.S. policy on foreign fighting is hard to determine, experts say. 'The State Department basically says on the website that we don't want Americans serving abroad,' said David Malet, an associate professor of justice, law, and criminology at American University who researches foreign fighters. 'But realistically, we know it's kind of hard to enforce that.' A State Department spokesperson said U.S. citizens serving in the Israeli military are not required to register their service with the U.S. government. Dual citizens must comply with the laws of both countries of which they are a citizen, including any mandatory military service. The department said U.S. citizens are encouraged to consult current travel advisories for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. (It recommends that people reconsider their travel to Israel and the West Bank, and not travel to Gaza.) 'Our embassies overseas maintain rough estimates of U.S. citizens in their countries for contingency planning purposes, but these estimates are imperfect, can vary, and are constantly changing, which is why we do not generally disclose them publicly,' a State Department spokesperson said in a statement. 'U.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country with us, so we cannot track with certainty how many U.S. citizens are in any particular country.' The State Department referred questions about legal implications of serving in a foreign military to the Department of Justice. DOJ referred questions to the Department of Defense, which referred questions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS referred questions back to the State Department. Across the Jewish diaspora and in Israel, lone soldiers are receiving more recognition than ever. 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She later joined after participating in the Garin Tzabar program, which runs two major drafting sessions each year. The program is funded by Tzofim, the biggest Zionist youth movement in Israel and the U.S. Also known as the Friends of Israel Scouts, the group has a U.S. nonprofit in New York. Tzofim 'begins educating kids at five years old,' said one former Zionist youth leader in Australia, who requested anonymity for fear of professional retaliation. He took part in groups affiliated with Tzofim as a teen. 'There is a direct funnel from educating toddlers to, as soon as they turn 18 — they're of military age and they're indoctrinated and groomed and brainwashed, and they're ready to fight the battle.' Garin Tzabar continues to recruit lone soldiers from the U.S., who often end up serving in combat in Gaza and 'protecting civilians' in the West Bank — where Israeli settlers and forces have killed 1,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023. Israeli soldiers talking to settlers in the West Bank in April 2025. Photo: Georgia Gee The recruitment pipeline includes many U.S. day schools — from more conservative yeshivas to modern Jewish day schools — that advertise how many alumni go on to serve in the Israeli military. The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, had 51 alumni serving in the Israeli military as of 2023. Another school in New Jersey, the Rae Kushner Yeshiva, has congratulated an alum who became a social media manager in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. 'Her work was recognized as important for hasbara by the Israeli news,' the school boasted on Facebook, using a term for Israeli public diplomacy, including propaganda tailored to international audiences. Another alum of the school served as a lone soldier in the army and was a friend of the son of Netanyahu, who commemorated him after he died while traveling in 2018. One charity reviewed by The Intercept, the Lone Soldier Foundation, specifically provides funds for the children of families that attend a synagogue in northern New Jersey who join the Israeli military. According to the group's most recent tax filing, it also supports the units in which the children of members of its congregation serve. In 2023, the group spent over $80,000 on providing 'non-combat and equipment to IDF units in which eligible American citizens served.' Read our complete coverage North American lone soldiers are a 'great example of the Zionist spirit or the Zionist dream,' Strober told The Intercept. 'It keeps American Jewish communities very, very close to the Israel question. It doesn't allow them to think critically because it's so close, because you know people who have been killed, or people who have served.' Under heightened public scrutiny, U.S. nonprofits have distanced themselves from directly funding projects in the West Bank or other settlements, which are illegal under international law. But U.S.-based nonprofits granted $8.8 million to specific lone soldier programs in 2023 alone, The Intercept found. It's possible the real number is higher, as nonprofits only have to report foreign grants above a certain threshold. 'It doesn't allow American Jewish communities to think critically, because you know people who have been killed.' The biggest known funder is Friends of the IDF, which has spent nearly $20 million on its lone soldier program since 2020, supporting more than 6,500 lone soldiers each year, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. 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Politico
18 hours ago
- Politico
Trump admin: Maduro will send back Alien Enemies Act deportees if US court orders return
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Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
GOP senator asks Pentagon for information on Microsoft's Chinese engineers
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