For more than ten years residents of this city have 

asked for improved air quality. And help has finally 

come. It came in December of last year. It came in 

the form of stricter federal regulations about what 

power plants may pump Into the air that we all 

share. It came in the form of the MATS regulation. 

-\, P r --\'~:!. 

Thanks to the MATS regulation, plans are now in the 

works to close both of our coal power plants. This 

regulation has already gone a long way to restoring 

our trust that the air we breathe will not hide a 

mean appearance. 

While the people of Chicago will soon have healthier 

air to breathe, we celebrate the fact, that beyond 

our city limits, other communities, other Americans, 

will also benefit from strict controls on air quality. 

Psalm 79 basically says the following: Dear God, we 

have made a mess, but we are your hands in the 

world. We give thanks for life. We will repair all 

we have laid waste. 

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Here in Chicago, we've learned the hard way about 

the cost of having two of the nation's oldest and 

dirtiest coal power plants in our city limits. We've 

learned that the mercury and toxic particulate 

matter that these plants spew into our air make 

asthma worst, Increase rates of heart attacks, and 

cause other illnesses. We've learned that those 

plants are especially noxious to the elderly and to 

our children. 

-th9-

Here In Chicago, ......,. air Is not a splendid ornament 

or a rich convenience. It is poisoned. Chicagoans, 

especially those who live near the two coal power 

plants have become afraid to breathe. Afraid to 

breathe. Afraid to breathe from the ocean of air 

above U.at1•••-- created as steady and prodigal 

provision for our support and delight. 

What to do? I have a 13-year old daughter. She 

enjoys many of the benefits that come with living in 

a big city. As do I. As does my husband. Chicago 

is our home. So then a conundrum. Do we leave 

Chicago for an area with cleaner air? Or do we stay 

in Chicago knowing that this decision may impact 

our health in a negative way? 

2 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was, like me, a Unitarian 

minister, once said that nature never wears a mean 

appearance (RWE). In his essay, Nature, Emerson 

described the earth as a green ball which floats us, 

human beings, through the heavens, offering steady 

and prodigal provision for our support and delight. 

What angels, he asked, Invented this ocean of air 

above, this ocean of water beneath, this firmament 

of earth between? The air, the water, the earth, he 

wrote, are splendid ornaments, rich conveniences. 

The air, he wrote, Is a cordial of Incredible virtue. 

What the Clean Air Act recognized was that while 

this ocean of air above, invented by angels, seems 

never to wear a mean appearance, Its appearance 

can be deceiving. The air may seem like a cordial of ~a.iv- .. incredible virtue but, when ta•t•ll next to coal and 

·,\ ~.su~kL 

oil-fired plants, It Is shown to contain mercury and 

toxic particulate matter. 

I 
Indeed, thanks to the Clean Air Act, to the EPA, and 

.,, 

to MATS, we~.o~begln to repair the air to which we 

have laid waste. Our hope is restored for a day 

when, with every breath we take, we will enjoy a 

cordial of incredible virtue. May it be so. Amen. 

4