Will County officials fear that bulky old televisions will end up in ditches unless state law is changed to strengthen electronic recycling requirements.

Members of the county’s Resource Recovery and Energy Division spoke at a hearing Wednesday on House Bill 4042, and the county board passed a resolution Thursday supporting the bill, sponsored by state Rep. Emily McAsey, D-Romeoville.

NRG Energy Inc. announced Thursday a pollution reduction plan for its four Illinois coal-fired generating plants that pushed the state more than halfway toward meeting new proposed federal limits for reducing carbon dioxide pollution.

NRG Energy officials told the Tribune on Wednesday that it will cease coal operations at one generating unit in Romeoville (the Will County plant), convert its Joliet plant to burn natural gas and upgrade its two other coal plants in Pekin and Waukegan to comply with environmental regulations.

By targeting the nation's biggest sources of heat-trapping pollution, President Barack Obama is seeking to help forestall droughts, floods and other disasters that are projected to become more frequent, intense and expensive as the global climate changes.

But federal rules requiring a dramatic cut in carbon dioxide emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants also could have more immediate effects on public health in Chicago and scores of other U.S. cities with chronically dirty air.