Most of the northeast corner of Illinois is under a emerald ash borer quarantine.

 A long-dormant power plant in one of Chicago's poorest suburbs could be reactivated to burn trees killed by the emerald ash borer.

According to CBS 2 News, the Robbins Community Power, which was constructed in the 1980s to burn garbage but has sat idle for the past 10 years, is being looked at as a way to turn a negative into a positive.

Illinois reportedly has 131 million ash trees; the ash borers have infested an estimated 40 million trees since June 2006. The problem is most pronounced state's northeastern quarter.

The project is being encouraged by the Illinois Emerald Ash Borer Wood Utilization Team. If it happens, the Robbins' facility would become Illinois' first wood-burning power plant. Burning the wood chips processed from diseased ash trees would create power for 50,000 homes. In the process about 200 jobs would be created.

Source: emeraldashborer.info