EAST ALTON 鈥� The main building of the Wood River Power Station was taken, but a last-minute change in demolition plans means the defunct coal plant鈥檚 three smokestacks remain standing.
A representative from the Wood River Drainage and Levee District said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested information relating to the safety of the levee and wants time to review it before the implosions.
Environmental groups and local residents .
Many of those concerns lingered after Monday鈥檚 demolition sent up a cloud of dark dust, said Andrew Rehn, a civil engineer with the Prairie Rivers Network, an organization that works on water, land and pollution issues across Illinois.
鈥淵ou see a and just wonder, 鈥榃here is this going? What鈥檚 in all this dust and smoke?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淸We鈥檙e] left with the same questions going into [the demolition] wondering, 鈥榃hat do people need to know about this?鈥欌��
Others worried how the large demolition affected the unlined coal ash ponds nearby.
鈥淲hat happens when a building like that goes down? What is it doing to those ponds?鈥� said Toni Oplt, chair of the Metro East Green Alliance, a group of area residents focused on environmental issues. 鈥淗ow fragile are they?鈥�
Rehn said the same questions environmental groups raised about the smokestacks endure, because they haven鈥檛 been imploded yet. But he added the delay gives groups like his more opportunity to get answers.
鈥淗opefully we鈥檒l be able to get some questions answered about what the smokestack demolition is going to look like,鈥� Rehn said.
Monday鈥檚 implosion also underscored how little community outreach there was before the building came down, Oplt said. Residents as far away as Collinsville and Florissant reported hearing or feeling the demolition Monday morning.
鈥淚t's quite clear from looking at reactions on Facebook to that video that most people were just not aware,鈥� she said. 鈥淲here鈥檚 the community conversation? Why [is the property owner] not talking to the community?鈥�
Commercial Liability Partners, which owns the Wood River Power Station, did not respond to a request for comment.
Oplt worries about what a lack of transparency around the demolition of coal plants will mean not only for the Wood River area but the other sites across Illinois where coal plants are set to come offline or have already been closed. She added many of these communities are not wealthy and need protections moving forward.
鈥淗ow communities come back, and become resilient, how they build wealth for themselves is intricately tied to how these companies behave as they leave these communities,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t depends on this relationship that isn鈥檛 happening.鈥�
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