The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Illinois and Citizens Against Ruining the Environment have reached a settlement agreement with Midwest Generation LLC (MWG) for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at six coal-fired electric generating power plants in Illinois. The agreement ends nine years of litigation among the parties by resolving the claims for injunctive relief and civil penalties for alleged Clean Air Act violations including violations of the particulate matter and opacity limits of the Illinois State Implementation Plan. Under the Consent Decree, MWG will pay a $1 million penalty to be split evenly between the federal government and the State of Illinois. At many of the units included in the settlement, the Consent Decree aligns MWG?s operations with existing state law. After completing upgrades of its pollution control devices at certain units, MWG will install additional emissions monitoring and be required to optimize the use of its emissions controls.
The agreement will provide substantial environmental benefits to the neighboring communities and help protect public health and welfare while enabling continued economic growth within the energy sector.