Lawsuit 'will improve Illinois air quality'

The air quality of communities living near one company's coal-fired power plants in Illinois looks set to improve, after a lawsuit was filed against the plants' owner.

It is alleged that Midwest Generation - which engages in financing and operating various fossil-fuel electric generating units in the state - breached environmental legislation by making major modifications to the plants without installing and operating the pollution control equipment stipulated by the Clean Air Act.

John C Cruden, acting assistant attorney general for the US justice department's Environment and Natural Resources division, said that the excess illegal emissions resulting from such violations would be sufficient to cause serious harm to human health and the environment.

Environmental Protection Agency region five acting administrator Bharat Mathur added: "Today's filing is a significant step toward improving the air quality not only of the communities in the shadow of these plants but for those downwind of their emissions as well."

Written by Lauren Steadman