* Tribune…

Environmental advocates on Monday told a state panel that a Rauner administration plan to change pollution rate limits for Illinois coal power plants would create health risks.

Behind the push is Dynegy Inc., which operates eight plants in central and southern Illinois. Officials with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency say changing state regulations would help keep the financially challenged coal plants running. Agency Director Alec Messina has said new state pollution standards could actually have environmental benefits and would still be tougher than those imposed by the federal government.

Opponents contend the changes would allow Houston-based Dynegy to ramp up energy production at its older and dirtier plants for the sake of increasing its bottom line.

* More info on what’s going on…

* As Dynegy New Del Com (DYN) Share Price Rose, Holder Mcclain Value Management Cut Holding: Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN) has risen 79.34% since April 17, 2017 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 67.79% the S&P500.

* Dynegy Illinois Inc (NYSE:DYN) Q4 2017 Sentiment Report: Ratings analysis reveals 57% of Dynegy Inc’s analysts are positive. Out of 7 Wall Street analysts rating Dynegy Inc, 4 give it “Buy”, 0 “Sell” rating, while 3 recommend “Hold”.

* Keep those downstate coal plants open? Buyer may have other ideas: Another issue undermining Dynegy’s case for looser environmental restrictions is that its downstate Illinois operations remain profitable on a cash-flow basis. Company executives have told the Illinois Pollution Control Board that downstate Illinois is posting operating losses. That’s true on paper, but it’s only because Dynegy has written down the value of its plants to the tune of nearly $900 million in the past two years. Those are noncash write-downs. Leave those out, and downstate has produced free cash flow of more than $100 million in each of the past two years, according to Securities & Exchange Commission filings. … The new rules would instead set a hard ceiling on the fleet’s total emissions for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in a year. The cap would be well above what those plants have emitted annually in recent years. Additionally, the ceiling wouldn’t account for the closure of any plants, so the operator conceivably could comply just by closing some plants.

* State EPA suffering from lack of staff: If the trend continues, they fear people will pay the price. One issue coming to a head at the EPA emissions standards, right now gas and coal company, Dynegy, which was recently bought by larger company, Vistra, out of Texas, is battling environmentalists over emission changes. The agency and Vistra say their proposal will strengthen environmental projections with stricter standards. But, others say the changes will allow for more pollution and puts public health at risk. The board held its third public hearing Monday. A decision will likely be made by June.

* Guest View: Our families can’t afford clean air rollbacks: Dynegy, Illinois’ largest producer of coal-fired electricity, now wants to weaken these common-sense standards so it can make more money. For the past year, the company has been working with the Illinois EPA to rewrite the limits, and the proposed changes would allow Dynegy’s fleet to pollute nearly double the sulfur dioxide and nearly 80 percent more nitrogen oxide than the company emitted in 2016.

* Spotlight: Dynegy’s perspective: New pollution controls make sense for Illinois: This change is needed. Since the rules were adopted more than a decade ago, the downstate generation profile has changed significantly due to reduced power prices, unit retirements and other factors. Today, under the current rules, we’re often forced to operate plants in a manner that loses money and creates more emissions, including greenhouse gas emissions. Contrary to what environmental group opponents say, the new rule would result in lower allowable emissions from the combined group of plants, with a hard cap on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions that would be significantly below what the plants are currently allowed to emit. In some cases, plant-specific SO2 and NOx limits would be introduced. And national air quality standards that protect public health and the environment would continue to be in effect.

* Illinois’ only national scenic river named one of the most threatened waterways in US: Orange- and purple-hued muck often can be seen leaching from the banks of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River as it meanders past a shuttered Dynegy coal plant near Oakwood, about 25 miles east of Urbana. The pollution problems led the nonprofit group American Rivers to list the stream as one of America’s most endangered rivers, adding another voice to local and national efforts intended to pressure Dynegy’s new owners to clean up the site.

* Dynegy execs snatch golden parachutes out of merger