This story was originally published byGrist.
Other residents were starting to set up their own folding chairs and coolers on either side of Main Street.
The town was livelier, she said, and that was because of coal.
Romeoville, IllinoisPhoto: Scott Olson (Getty Images)
By 1882, St. Clair County, which encompasses Marissa, was the top producing coal county in Illinois.
Some populations look at the end of coal not with nostalgia but with relief.
But for all of them, one question remains: What does a world without coal look like?
In Marissa, plenty of people, including Fulton, want coal use to continue.
Fulton sees the decline of the industry reflected in the decline of her community.
We need this industry to keep going in this area, said Fulton.
We need the employment.
We need the people.
We need it for our schools, libraries, all that good stuff.
Now Prairie State is one of a few still standing.
For well over a decade, coal has been outcompeted economically by fracked natural gas and increasingly cheap renewables.
But the end of coal in the Midwest isnt a foregone conclusion.
Some coal power plant owners are resisting calls to close their plants.
One is Prairie State, which came online in 2012.
The plant is one of thetop 10 polluting facilities in the United States.
For Nannicelli, Prairie State has always been the elephant in the room.
But a lawsuit from the Sierra Club aims to wrap up the plant sooner.
The carbon could then be sequestered deep underground.
Pankau doesnt rule out carbon capture completely, though.
While Prairie States fate hangs in the balance, Weilmuenster feels that the towns days are numbered.
I can say that this town is shrinking, said Weilmuenster.
The last census in 2020, we only had 1,800 people.
The town is dying, he said.
It was the result of more than a decade of organizing by community members.
Still, issues with industrial pollution plague the neighborhood today.
It opened in 1924, alongside Fisk Generating Station, another coal-fired plant that opened in 1903.
She notes that both the highway and river supported the movement of goods in and out of the plants.
How many of their families understood that there was a coal power plant in their backyard?
Despite the huge victory, the Crawford coal plant would still haunt the neighborhood almost a decade later.
The collapse of a smokestack killed one worker and covered the community in dust.
Its probably one of the worst experiences Ive ever had in my lifetime, Wasserman said.
The implosion of the smokestack further angered residents who had fought to kill the plant.
We kept showing like, Hey, we have concerns about the process.
It doesnt seem like the owners of coal plant properties now are as anxious to sell, said Nannicelli.
I just think the dynamics of Crawford and other coal plant sites are a little bit different.
The decommission announcement coincided with an industry-wide push to decarbonize the energy and utilities sectors.
As of September of this year, the plant is still in operation.
The Oak Creek plant has had continual delays in its supposed path to closure.
Last year, We Energiesdelayedthe closure until 2025.
In August of this year, We Energies hinted at more delays to the plants closure.
Duringan earnings call for investors, questions swirled regarding theenergy-intensive data centerthat Microsoft is constructing in a nearby village.
Read Next:The EPA is cracking down on steel mill pollution.
In Gary, Indiana, it might not be enough.
These facilities use up to 50 times more energy than a commercial office building, according to theU.S.
Located in rural Mount Pleasant, the tech complex is operated by Taiwan-based LCD manufacturer Foxconn.
Five years later, the manufacturing jobs promised havent materialized.
Conway did not say whether the company has plans for the plants physical location once decommissioning is complete.
There seems to be no move to actually follow through on these claims and promises.
The leftover material contains metals and radioactive materials known to cause cancers, congenital disabilities, and respiratory diseases.
There is a huge profit incentive for them to just keep using cheap, dirty coal, Larson said.
But they are on the hook for trying to get as much profit as they can for their investors.
As coal keeps burning in Wisconsin, customers utility bills are increasing.
The company hopes to offset this loss by rising monthly energy costs.
She said people in Wisconsin and the Midwest are increasingly aware of how fossil fuel combustion causes climate change.
Natural gas is predominantlymethane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for 30 percent of the planets warming to date.
Known as the Sherco coal plant, its set to be fully decommissioned by 2030.
As the coal plant is retired, its buildings will become home to new solar and clean energy technologies.
Right now, solar energy makes up 4 percent of our Upper Midwest energy mix, Coss said.
Xcel will convert almost 3,500 acres of rural Minnesota to solar panels.
He also stressed that workers wouldnt suffer in the transition to solar.
But concern over a smooth transition for those working at coal plants remains.
There needs to be a place for the coal festival, said Pankau.
Were not erasing that.
Mothers accompanied the young boys aspiring to be named prince.
And then applause as MacKenzie Jetton, a local high school graduate, was named Coal Queen.
Friends cried out her name Kenzie!
and she accepted the sash emblazoned with 2023 Queen.
They were the future, whatever it might bring.
This article originally appeared inGristathttps://grist.org/energy/midwest-coal-traditions-end/.
Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
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