Chicago and Joliet residents and community leaders will meet at a women and climate justice tribunal, which organizers say will highlight impacts on women and their communities realized from living with air pollution generated by coal plants in Joliet and Romeoville and the dumping of toxic coal ash by Midwest Generation in a nearby, unlined quarry.
The tribunal also will highlight the importance of cleaning up heavily polluted sites after power plants are closed, using two Chicago coal plants as examples.
Experts will frame each case and women from the impacted communities will share their experiences and stories. Judges will then render a verdict with recommendations that will be taken to Rio +20 United Nations Earth Summit on June 20-22, 2012.
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Witnesses will include impacted women from Joliet, Romeoville and Chicago.
Jurists are Marta Benavides, Human Rights Activist, El Salvador; Jacqui Patterson, NAACP's Climate Justice Initiative; Kelly Mitchell, Greenpeace; and Brian Perbix, Prairie Rivers Network.
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Organizations will include Citizens Against Ruining the Environment; Feminist Taskforce; Loretto Community at the UN; Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization; and the Eco-Justice Collaborative.
For more information contact: Ellen Rendulich at 815-834-1611 or Mary Burnitz at 815-838-5604, CARE; or Edyta Sitko, Greenpeace, at 812-219-4644.
