YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED IN SPRINGFIELD ON MAY 2ND

Prairie Rivers Network and our partners will be talking to legislators about important environmental initiatives during Environmental Lobby Day on May 2nd.

Please join us! This is a great chance to meet the staff of Prairie Rivers Network, learn about lobbying, and network with other activists.

Most importantly, our legislators need to know that clean water and healthy rivers are important and that you expect them to protect our environment. They need to hear from YOU! If you are interested in talking with legislators or visiting with fellow river advocates, please email Glynnis at gcollins@prairierivers.org.

An end to unfair fee exemption for “CAFOs” (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)

Today the Illinois Senate passed the Clean Water Funding Fairness Act (HB 5642), ending the livestock industry’s unique exemption from paying fees for their Clean Water Act permits. We are grateful to Representative Tryon (Crystal Lake) and Senator Frerichs (Champaign), who became the bill’s sponsors after being asked to do so by Illinois’ environmental community.

In 2010, Prairie Rivers Network discovered that factory farms were exempt from paying fees for water pollution permits. All other industrial polluters must pay an annual fee for their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Those fees cover the costs of the state’s regulatory program. In the absence of a fee, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency was funding their factory farm regulatory program with fees from the other permittees.

This funding shortfall may have been one of the reasons why the U.S. EPA determined in 2010 that Illinois’ regulatory program for factory farms is inadequate. This determination gave merit to claims made by Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water in their 2008 petition to U.S. EPA. The petition claimed Illinois EPA was failing to issue permits or adequately respond to complaints about factory farm pollution, and did not have a complete inventory of the state’s over 20,000 livestock operations.

Prairie Rivers Network, Environment Illinois, and Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water drafted and supported a bill to create a permit fee for factory farms during the 2011 legislative session. After initial resistance from the Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Pork Producers Association, all interested parties agreed to this year’s bill.

Among those who lobbied in support of the bill were many rural residents who live near factory farms. These residents live with the air and water pollution that comes from large-scale livestock operations confining thousands of animals on small acreages. Residents who pay such a personal cost strongly agree that factory farms should be subject to greater accountability.

“Permits are beneficial because they prevent pollution and create greater accountability. As a farmer and a Farm Bureau member, I was so glad to see agreement on this bill,” said Cindy Bonnet, who once raised livestock in Jo Daviess County and is a member of Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water.

Banner Marsh HREP, Illinois (Credit: Jerry Milam)

With spring’s longer and warmer days, many of us are getting out to enjoy Illinois’ multitude of  diverse rivers and streams.  These winding  waterways are often the closest, perhaps the only, bit of natural landscape that many Illinois residents have for recreation and rejuvenation.

A few of us might still be stuck inside, scrambling to finish our tax returns. This year, whether you are writing a check to, or waiting for a check from, Uncle Sam, you may wonder how your tax dollars are being spent, and if they are being spent wisely, when it comes to protecting Illinois’ rivers. {Continue Reading »}

Elliot goes to Washington

Earlier this month, Prairie Rivers Network Habitat Conservation Specialist, Elliot Brinkman, traveled to Washington, D.C. to help educate legislators about the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program.

This program provides federal grant funds for projects that benefit wildlife and their habitats and gives priority to species of greatest conservation concern. It is also the primary funding source for states to implement their Wildlife Action Plans. In Illinois, these funds have been used for a number of successful restoration and research projects, many of which assessed and improved the quality of habitats in and along streams and rivers. {Continue Reading »}

We’ve been tracking a terrible bill in the Illinois Senate this spring that would allow irresponsible development in flood-prone areas. It may also make thousands of Illinois residents ineligible for federal flood insurance and disaster relief.

You can help by calling bill sponsor Senator Haine (217.782-5247 or 618.465-4764) and ask him to withdraw Senate Bill 2556. You can also call or write your own state senator and representative and ask them not to vote for SB2556.

Illinois Sierra Club Floodplain Chair, President of American Bottom Conservancy, and Prairie Rivers Network supporter Kathy Andria describes problems with the Bill in a Letter to the Editor that appeared in the 3/21/10 Madison & St. Clair Record. We reprint the text below:

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