| Chicago Expander, Archeworks Territory of Energy Production in Chicago
The
Mississippi River and its tributaries have evolved to a landscape of production
due to its scale and topographic conditions. The natural and manmade water
corridors serve as a form of infrastructure. The processes of energy
production, agricultural production and waste management rely on the various
waterways that compose the Mississippi River Basin. The main sources of energy
production, natural gas, nuclear and coal utilize steam for electricity
generation and require easy access to massive amounts of fresh water. The cycle
of water consumption by power plants elevates water temperatures, lowers oxygen
levels and introduces toxins. This has a direct impact on river and gulf
ecologies. As a society, we largely ignore the externalities produced by energy
consumption. Cities have adopted an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality pushing
power plants further and further away from populated centers. In Chicago, hundred-year old coal plants are
being closed within the city’s boundary due to health risks but the increased
consumption of natural gas and nuclear energy pose their own unique
hazards.
Chicago straddles the watersheds of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. By engineering the reverse flow of the Chicago River, the city of Chicago is interconnected to the vast productive network that flows south. High yield agricultural land and ease of transport fueled the twentieth century growth of Chicago and its ongoing sprawl across the flat land supporting the city. Chicago’s regional population of 9.4 million and industrial development is primarily located in the river basin in comparison to the lake watershed. A superimposed network of pipelines and high-voltage electrical transmission lines connect points of production to the areas of settlement and industry. Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal, the great engineering project that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River and Illinois River, is mostly seen in glimpses as one moves along roadways since limited access points provide direct contact to the water’s edge. The two maps produced look at the flow of material and energy from different scales. At a national scale, energy use projections show little change to patterns of consumption or energy sources, which is realistic but also alarming. Much of the coal that is burned in Illinois is transported from Wyoming and natural gas pipelines extend from Northern Canada to offshore drilling sites in the Gulf of Mexico. Two natural gas market centers redistribute and store natural gas reserves near Joliet, an exurb 40 miles southwest of Chicago. Natural gas is stored in underground chambers in high concentrations across the southern gulf coast and northeastern Rust Belt. At the city scale, waterways are abstracted as spines with power plants scaled based on capacity. The population of each county is then displaced or allocated based on the availability of energy production capacity. The pathways of transmission via natural gas pipelines and high voltage electric lines establish the territory of production between sites of generation and population centers. The mapping reveals different land use patterns in the northern and southern perimeters of Chicago. Dispersed population increases system inefficiencies and requires more energy production and infrastructure for transmission. |
  Displaced Geographies from Kerrie Butts on Vimeo. |