You are right to be concerned about the Calpine plant.

Calpine has begun construction and operation of a 800 MW peaker here in Illinois, the Zion Energy Center. 2 turbines are up an running, 3 more will be constructed. Their selection of a site for this monstrosity was atrocious, less then a thousand feet from the nearest home. It is on the far outskirts of the hosting community in the next community's front yard.

The facility is uglier and more invasive then we ever thought.

Calpine has the blessing of the town of Zion which got bought off with a host agreement. The town even repealed and then reinstated city ordinances to allow Calpine to build the plant. We have filed a lawsuit. They built a 1.5 million gallon diesel fuel storage tank and there is not enough fire fighting equipment in the entire county should there ever be a fire. They don't care.

The plant is much louder then promised, even with just one turbine running. They are violating noise standards. The burden of proof falls on us, noise experts are very expensive.We cannot afford one and they know that. The official explanation is that Calpine is still testing the turbines. However, noise regulations do not exempt testing.

The berm that was promised never materialized. Although Calpine has a 110 acer site out there, they claim there is no room to put the berm. They offer to put it on the neighbors property, of course without compensation or offer to maintain it.

Calpine will be using up to 1.2 million gallons of ground water a day for the peaker. The town of Zion residents are on city water from lake Michigan, their neighbors are on well water, we have some working farms out there that worry about their future.

Before Calpine even ran a single day, they received a Notice of Violation from the Illinois permitting agency. Calpine arrogantly decided to build their plant not to specifications outlined in the application that was the basis for the construction permit approval. They are currently operating in Violation of the Clean Air Act, unfortunately with the blessing of the agency that is supposed to control and patrol them, the Illinois EPA.

Keep up the good fight, you are not alone.

Verena Owen
Winthrop Harbor, IL