Photo Credit: Alliance for the Great Lakes; Lloyd DeGrane

Prairie Rivers joins the Alliance for the Great Lakes in calling upon Illinois to address bacterial and nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in Illinois lakes and streams.

The public has until June 1 to call on Illinois regulators to do more to protect beachgoers from E. coli bacteria by identifying and addressing pollution sources that cause Lake Michigan beach closings each year.

Visit the Allinace for the Great Lakes for more information on how you can help.

by Kim Knowles, Water Resources Specialist

In a signal to water polluters that continued illegal activity cannot be tolerated, Prairie Rivers Network has sent six notices to illegal polluters that it intends to sue them if they don’t clean up their acts. Those who stand accused of dumping impermissible levels of pollution into our waters include Freeman Coal United, Kent Feeds, Arclar Wildcat Hills coal mine, Illinois Fuels, Jader Fuels, and St. Mary’s cement plant.

Following our notice of intent to sue, Prairie Rivers was pleased to see Attorney General Lisa Madigan step in and file suit against Freeman Coal United, sending a warning that the state is on board with seeking out violators and holding them accountable. Prairie Rivers Network will join the state in this suit and will pursue federal enforcement actions against the five others, if necessary, and against anyone else who flouts our water pollution prevention laws. With your help we can continue to root out wrong doers and clean up our waters.

by Sarah Scott, Support Staff

Photo credit: tpmartins’ photostream on flickr.com

Atrazine, one of the family of triazine herbicides, has been widely used to control broadleaf and grassy weeds in agriculture and lawns. First approved for use in 1959, it is widely used in corn growing; over 75% of corn crops nationwide are treated with atrazine every year. Swiss-based Syngenta, one of the manufacturers of atrazine, touts that it is an economical form of weed control that prevents crop damage, and that it also has positive environmental effects because farmers can spray atrazine instead of tilling the soil to reduce weeds, thus preventing soil erosion and reducing carbon dioxide gas from tractors. {Continue Reading »}

Point Source Pollution (photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/thoth-god/)

Prairie Rivers Network, in partnership with the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law and Policy Center, has filed a notice of intent to sue Freeman United Coal Mining Company, regarding repeated and excessive violations of the Clean Water Act.

The Industry Mine, near Macomb, has over 300 documented exceedances of their NPDES permit since July, 2003. You can read the press release here and review the violations here. {Continue Reading »}

If you haven’t yet read the New York Times article entitled “Toxic Waters: Clean Water Laws Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering“ that appeared Sunday, September 13, I encourage you to do so now.

The article paints a stark picture of health threats posed by pollution in our nation’s waters. Pollution found in our drinking water is making people sick and has been linked to cancer and damage to the kidneys and nervous system. The Environmental Protection Agency and state regulatory agencies are charged with carrying out the Clean Water Act and the Safe Water Drinking Act in order to ensure clean, safe drinking water. However, between a “culture of transgression and apathy” and a doubling in the number of regulated facilities in the last ten years, the agencies responsible for making sure the laws are enforced are not getting the job done. {Continue Reading »}

by Traci Barkley, Water Resources Scientist

Illinois’ 24 Coal-Fired Power Plants

Last December, residents living near the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Steam Plant were flooded with approximately 1.6 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge. It covered the area equivalent to 100 city blocks and flooded into tributaries of the Tennessee River which is the water supply for Chattanooga, Tennessee and millions of people living downstream in Alabama. Burning of coal to make electricity produces solid and liquid waste that is typically stored on-site in huge piles (solids) and impoundments (solids and liquids). Unfortunately, the regulatory framework to control these wastes is weak and under-enforced. Proper management of coal waste is critical in protecting public drinking water supplies and the health of our natural environment.* {Continue Reading »}