NATION & WORLD


Thursday, March 8, 2012 ■ Page 17


States fi nd tough climate for gas tax


By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press


ANNAPOLIS, Md. — As if gas Associated Press


Midwest Generation’s Fisk Generating Station, a coal-fi red power plant, is seen in the background of Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Feb. 29.


Chicago coal plants to close early


By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press


CHICAGO — Chicago’s two aging


coal-fi red power plants, long blamed for illnesses in two largely Hispanic neigh- borhoods, will shut down several years earlier than expected under a deal an- nounced Feb. 29. Midwest Generation agreed to close its Fisk Generating Station by the end of the year and its Crawford Generat- ing Station by the end of 2014, the com- pany and Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a written statement. A coalition of environmental, health and community groups announced agreements with the company earlier in the day. The company already had said it


would sharply reduce emissions at the plants or close them by 2015 and 2018, respectively. But the Chicago Clean Pow- er Coalition and city offi cials pressured the company to close them sooner, com- plaining the plants contributed to high rates of asthma and other health prob- lems in the city’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. “People in the communities around the plant lived with this pollution for a long, long time,” said Faith Bugel, senior attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center. Closing the plants early, “is a big benefi t to everybody from ... four extra years of improved air quality.” Chicago is the only large U.S. city


with two coal-fi red plants still operating within its borders. “Midwest Generation has made an


important and appropriate decision to- day, which will be good for the company, the city and the residents of Chicago,” Emanuel said in a statement. Pedro Pizarro, president of Edison


Mission Group, Midwest Generation’s parent company, said market conditions weren’t favorable enough to invest in ex- pensive pollution upgrades at the aging plants, both of which were built in the early 1900s. The closure of the Chicago plants


probably won’t affect electric reliability in the Midwest or nationally, said John Hutchinson,


senior energy strategist


with the Electric Power Research Insti- tute. The industry expects more compa- nies to close old, ineffi cient plants. The closures must be approved by


PJM Interconnections, which manages the electric grid for 13 states, including the Chicago area. In exchange for the closures, Bugel said the Environmental Law & Policy Center and other environmental groups agreed to withdraw from a federal law- suit against the company. The suit was fi led by the Justice Department over claims the company had upgraded its plants without installing pollution con- trol equipment, and the groups inter- vened.


prices weren’t high enough, several states across the U.S. are looking to raise fuel taxes they say are needed to pay for roads and bridges that are out- dated, congested and in some cases, dangerous. Maryland’s governor is proposing a phased-in 6 percent sales tax by 2 per- cent a year, which would raise about $613 million annually when fully im- plemented. Iowa is considering rais- ing its current 21-cent-per-gallon tax by either 8 cents or 10 cents. Such proposals were hard to even


contemplate during the recession and its immediate aftermath. Now, states forced to grapple with the problem are running into record-high gas pric- es for this time of year and lingering effects of the recession.


In Maryland, lawmakers are ques- tioning whether the time is right for such an increase, which is never pop- ular even in good fi scal times. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a


Democrat, is quick to point out that the state hasn’t raised its gas tax since 1992 — and the fl at tax doesn’t buy nearly as much as it once did. But some lawmakers say they are getting signifi cant pushback from residents who are calling their offi ces to express opposition at a time when Maryland, like most other states, is still trying to bounce back from the recession. O’Malley’s plan would delay a 2


percent annual increase if gas prices rise by more than 15 percent in a fi scal year. Lawmakers also say Maryland’s $1.1 billion defi cit is creating another obstacle, because his challenging bud- get plan includes a variety of other tax increases that legislators will be con- sidering.


“Mitchell’s is always seeking highly motivated employees.”


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