Please contact LaSalle County Board members and tell them to protect Starved Rock by not permitting the sand mine.

If you have time for just one call, the board chair is Jerry Hicks, 815-795-2608.

A proposed sand mine adjacent to Starved Rock State Park could drain a rare, brackish wetland, with high quality plant communities and specific habitat for threatened and endangered species. The noise generated from blasting and constant truck traffic will have a negative impact on the wildlife populations that inhabit the area.

Starved Rock State Park receives over 2 million visitors annually; many of whom come to view the abundant wildlife that occur in the area, such as the bald eagles that overwinter there and the white pelicans that migrate to the Illinois Valley in spring and fall.

It’s not too late to let members of the LaSalle County Board know that you oppose locating this mine near Starved Rock. Please take the time to call board members and voice your concern.

In December, the LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously in favor of the Permit. However, the proposal will go before the full LaSalle County Board on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 for a final vote.

Please contact the County Board Members or attend the County Board Meeting in support of Starved Rock State Park.

When: Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 1 PM

Where: Knights of Columbus Hall at 401 W. Main Street in Ottawa, Illinois

CALL TODAY – November 9, 2011

Our last hope for EPA to protect us from coal ash pollution lies in our U.S. Senators hands.

Coal Ash Pond, Havana, IL

Coal ash is contaminating our groundwater because it is not disposed of safely. In fact, Illinois has more cases of contaminated groundwater from coal ash than any other state.

Call Senators Durbin and Kirk and tell them to vote NO on S. 1751!

Senator Richard J. Durbin 202/224-2152
Senator Mark Kirk 202/224-2854

Talking points include:

• S.1751 endangers the health and safety of thousands of communities: it will prevent the EPA from ever revisiting a federal coal ash rule even if it is found that coal ash dumps pose an even greater threat.
• S.1751 is a dangerous bill: it would allow the construction of coal ash dumps that don’t meet drinking water standards for arsenic, lead and other pollutants.
• S.1751 will cost American jobs: A recent study by a Tufts University senior economist found that strong coal ash regulations, such as the one proposed by the EPA in 2010, would generate 28,000 jobs annually.
• S.1751 will hurt recycling: once coal ash is dumped into water, which this bill would allow by permitting the construction of new coal ash ponds, it cannot be recycled.
• S.1751 fails to address the current threat: this bill will not phase out dangerous ash ponds or prevent another tragedy like the coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008.
• Coal ash is hazardous to our health: the cancer risk from drinking water contaminated by arsenic near some coal ash ponds is 1 in 50, which is 2,000 times greater than the EPA’s acceptable risk level
• Coal ash is a national problem: it is the second largest industrial waste stream in the U.S.

You can find more information about S.1751 here

You can read more about Prairie Rivers Network’s work on coal ash here.

Just two weeks after the House of Representatives caved to the coal industry and voted to strip the EPA of the authority to protect Americans from coal ash, a retaining bluff collapsed on Monday, October 31, at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin, sending toxic coal ash spewing into Lake Michigan, a drinking water supply for over 10 million residents in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The standard line from opponents of strong EPA regulation of toxic coal ash is: “States can handle this.”  But state environmental regulators gave We Energies a pass in 2008 – exempting it from certain rules so that construction work could be done atop coal ash landfills on a bluff on the Lake Michigan shoreline at the utility’s Oak Creek Power Plant, officials said Tuesday.  A recent review conducted by Earthjustice reveals that when measured against basic safeguards that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified as essential to protect health and the environment, state regulatory programs fail miserably to guarantee safety from contamination and catastrophe.  Our recent report, “Illinois at Risk,” highlights numerous examples of how our state environment regulators are failing to protect residents from coal ash pollution in Illinois.

Our last hope for EPA to protect us from coal ash pollution lies in our U.S. Senators hands.

Tell your Senator to support the EPA’s efforts to give us strong safeguards on coal ash!

***UPDATE 10/14/2011***

This afternoon H.R. 2273 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 267-144. Illinois Representatives who voted to take away EPA’s ability to implement commonsense safeguards to protect communities and their waters from coal ash pollution include:

• Rep. Peter Roskam (R. 6th)
• Rep. Joe Walsh (R. 8th)
• Rep. Robert Dold (R. 10th)
• Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R. 11th)
• Rep. Judy Biggert (R. 13th)
• Rep. Randy Hultgren (R. 14th)
• Rep. Tim Johnson (R. 15th)
• Rep. Donald Manzullo (R. 16th)
• Rep. Robert Schilling (R. 17th)
• Rep. Aaron Schock (R. 18th)
• Rep. John Shimkus (R. 19th)
  

This bill must now be stopped in the Senate – stay tuned for information on how to contact your Senators.

***

House prepares to block EPA

Your U.S. Representatives need to hear from you now as Congress tries to push the  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) out of the way in favor of continuing to put the coal industry’s bottom line ahead of protecting clean water.

Over a year ago, EPA proposed improved rules for how to store and dispose of harmful coal ash in response to the more than 100 known coal ash contamination cases in the U.S.  Over 450,000 public comments were received – more than had ever been received for any other proposed regulation.  Despite the overwhelming public outcry for protection from mismanagement of coal ash at the state level, as part of the War on Water some Congressional Representatives have advanced a bill that would prevent EPA from finishing the process of proposing commonsense safeguards to limit coal ash pollution.  The bill, H.R. 2273, is expected to come up for a vote this week (Oct 14).  Please take a moment to call your U.S. Representative NOW and ask them to Vote No on H.R. 2273!

Find your Representative here.

Talking points include:

1)      VOTE NO on H.R. 2273!

2)      Let EPA use its expertise, public feedback and the best science to decide how to regulate coal ash – without interference by Congress or special interest groups that have donated millions to anti-EPA campaigns.

3)      Improper management of coal ash in Illinois has earned us the distinction of having the second highest number of documented coal-ash damage sites of any state in the U.S.

4)      The public is at risk. Despite its hazardous characteristics, coal ash is not subject to federal regulations, and state laws governing coal ash disposal in Illinois are weak.

5)      Coal ash is toxic. Coal ash, the by-product of burning coal, contains toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead and mercury. The public health and environmental hazards from unsafe coal ash dumping have been known for many years, including increased risk of cancer, learning disabilities, neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive failure, asthma and other sicknesses.

Read more on this upcoming vote.

Your input is important!

Who: Illinois Lieutenant Governor’s Office and Prairie Rivers Network

What: Public comment session for the Wabash River Strategic Plan

When: Monday, October 17th, 2011, 5:30-7:30 PM

Where: Danville Public Library, 319 N. Vermilion St. Danville, IL 61832

Earlier this year, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor partnered with the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs to develop a Wabash River Strategic Plan, which outlines important economic and environmental issues facing the region. The plan provides recommendations to the Wabash and Ohio Rivers Coordinating Council and focuses on seven topics:

• Business, industry, and agriculture
• Habitat
• Human resources
• Hydrology
• Recreation
• Research and monitoring
• Water quality

During the meeting, we will discuss the goals, objectives, and actions that relate to each topic. Your comments and recommendations will improve our ability to develop a plan that serves people living in the region. Click here to see if you live within the Wabash and Ohio Rivers region.

Please contact Elliot Brinkman of Prairie Rivers Network at (217) 344-2371 or ebrinkman@prairierivers.org if you plan on attending the public meeting, or if you would like additional information. If you are unable to attend the meeting, you may click here to provide comments online.