Say so long to the Crawford and Fisk coal plants, which fired their last batches on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. It's the culmination of a decades-long grassroots struggle to rid Pilsen and Little Village of an inordinate amount of pollutants. A new, more positive struggle may take hold in the near future— debating what to do with these hulking structures. Meetings have convened and plans have been floated, and the neighborhood has made clear their desire for a park component along the river. Preservation of jobs and portions of the structures are other natural desires. There's a chance the plants could be converted to other types of energy production. But first, the mothballing process will take about six weeks. And then Midwest Generation is expected to put the properties on the market. And don't you even think about pilfering the leftover metals, a security staff will be installed for that explicit purpose. [Trib, previously]
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