Galesburg Reporter

It took nearly six years, but an Illinois watchdog group has won its fight for public records from the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA).

“On Sept. 15, 2014, I submitted a Request for Review to the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor claiming the IMEA improperly withheld public records,” wrote John Kraft on the website Illinois Leaks. IMEA “quickly claimed those records were, in part, private and financial information of the non-public entities and information pertaining to the operating costs of its Prairie State plants,” protected under the Illinois Trade Secrets Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Energy Policy Act, Kraft wrote.

The Illinois Attorney General disagreed with IMEA. It informed Troy Fodor, vice president and general counsel of IMEA of the decision in a letter.

“This office requests that the agency provide Mr. Kraft with copies of the invoices at issue, that disclosed the information pertaining to the operating costs, including the notes and vendors of the Prairie State campus,” Assistant Attorney General Teresa Lim wrote in the letter to IMEA. “This letter shall serve to close this matter.”

All of IMEA’s arguments failed, wrote Kraft.

“My argument from the beginning was that the Constitution, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Local Records Act all similarly state that ‘All records relating to the obligation, receipt, and use of public funds of the state, units of local government, and school districts are public records subject to inspection and copying by the public,’" Kraft wrote. 

The Prairie State Energy Campus is a coal-powered power plant constructed by “nine nonprofit, public power utilities committed to providing clean, reliable and affordable energy for their members,” its website says. “Together, they created an energy campus that uses domestic resources and clean energy technology to produce more power, and less waste.”