The Issue

The Middle Fork River is the only wild and scenic river in the state of Illinois. It flows south through Kickapoo State Park in Vermillion County before joining the Vermillion River, which is a tributary of the Illinois River.

In 2011, the energy corporation Dynegy closed the Vermillion Power Station, a coal-fired power plant north of Kickapoo. The power plant was positioned near the Middle Fork, which it used as a source of cooling water.

Coal burning creates by-products, one of which is “coal ash.” This ash contains a concoction of heavy metals and toxins such as arsenic, boron, barium, chromium, and lead. The ash needs to be stored, and in the case of the Vermillion Power Station, it was stashed in ponds adjacent to the Middle Fork River. See the map below.

Good practice for these ponds is to “line” them, which involves adding a layer of protection between the pollutants in the pond and the groundwater. Of the three ponds pictured above, the New East Ash Pond is lined, while the other two are unlined.

This photo demonstrates the slimness of barrier between the pollutants in the unlined North Ash Pond and the Middle Fork.

Because of the high water table near the river, pollutants from the ponds seep into the groundwater and leak into the Middle Fork. This causes orange tinted pollutants to seep into the river in the area near where the North Ash Pond and the Old East Ash Pond meet.

Photo: Eco-Justice Collaborative

This seepage causes some recreationalists to question the safety of the river and it can cause significant harm to the wildlife who live in the water. But the seepage is only a piece of the problem.

Each of the three coal ash ponds lie within the floodplain of the Middle Fork, and in the case of a 100-year flood, the coal ash ponds and the river would become one, resulting in potentially irreparable damage to the currently vibrant ecosystem and its wildlife.

The chances of a 100-year flood in any given year are low at 1%, but with climate change, a 100-year flood may become more akin to a 50-year flood in the American midwest. Such an event would ruin a crucial tourist and recreation attraction for Vermillion County and eastern Illinois, as well as pose a significant health risk to the human population.

For Vermillion County, the dice are becoming more risky to roll.

On top of the seepage and the flood threat, the constant, natural erosion of the Middle Fork’s river bank means that the distance between the river water and the coal ash pits is steadily decreasing, which may increase the rate of seepage and could eventually cause catastrophic failure of the barrier between the ash ponds and the river.

Activists, agencies, and Dynegy have been mulling potential solutions for years now, and while the Illinois EPA has tentatively approved a proposal from Dynegy, the solution does not meet the muster of activists.

One solution championed by Dynegy is to cap the ash pits with clay, thereby preventing rain access. While this would reduce the threat of catastrophe from flood, it doesn’t address the seepage problem.

Another solution, one that the IEPA has tentatively approved, involves armoring the riverbank using “rip rap” to prevent erosion. This would involve layering rock or old concrete on the riverbed where the erosion is most concerning, which would temporarily reduce seepage and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failure due to erosion.

Andre Rehn of Prairie Rivers Network (PRN), an environmental nonprofit, believes that the armoring approach is not enough.

“Moving the coal ash away from the river and out of the floodplain is the only solution that will permanently protect the Middle Fork and the people of Vermilion County from the danger of a catastrophic failure of the ash ponds,” he said in a press release.

The demand for Dynegy to move the coal ash to a new, less precarious site is echoed by other activist groups. Public pressure resulted in the IEPA providing a public hearing on the topic.