Civil Plaintiff
An $8.6 Million Pollution Settlement Is Helping an Illinois Town Fund Solar Panels
Years of pollution from the coal-fired Edwards Power Plant in Bartonville are helping produce a cleaner future thanks to $1.5 million allocated to Woodruff Career and Technical Center.
The money, part of an $8.6 million settlement from a case brought against the plant’s owners, is being used to pay for solar panels at the school and help fund a brand-new program to prepare students for jobs in the growing field of renewable energy.
When students returned to school in the fall, they arrived just in time to watch the installation of 545 solar panels on the roof of the school’s two gymnasiums. The 22 students in the renewable energy class were able to monitor the progress through their classroom windows, which face the construction site.
