For Immediate Release: July 14, 2009

Prairie Rivers Network is asking Senator Roland Burris to vote for the Baucus-Klobuchar-Boxer Amendment to the Clean Water Restoration Act. This Act would reinstate protections for wetlands and streams that have been compromised over the past eight years. Before adjourning for the 4th of July recess, the Environment and Public Works Committee voted 12-7 to send the measure on to the full Senate. The Act already has the support of Senator Durbin.  {Continue Reading »}

The Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club has teamed with Ducks Unlimited to update the inventory of wetlands in the state. Ducks Unlimited (DU) is identifying wetlands from aerial photographs; they then need help in verifying their work through field visits to 2% of the identified wetlands. DU anticipates that nearly 6000 wetlands will need to be visited across the state over the next two years. Volunteers can be trained to perform these field IDs. {Continue Reading »}

The Clean Water Act 404 Program

Mallard ducks enjoying a wetland at Illinois Beach State Park

Under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, anyone who hopes to fill a wetland, channelize a stream, or otherwise fill a portion of a water with sediment, must obtain a “404 permit” from the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Corps must assure that each permit it issues complies with guidelines developed together by the Corps and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The guidelines specify that a discharge of fill material into a water may not be permitted if:

• There is a practical alternative
• The discharge would cause or contribute to violation of water quality standards
• The discharge jeopardizes the existence of a threatened or endangered species
• The discharge will cause or contribute to significant degradation of waters
• Appropriate steps are not taken to minimize adverse impacts. {Continue Reading »}

Passage of Illinois HB 422, the Wetlands Protection Act seen as urgent

Champaign, November 6, 2003: A new Bush Administration Clean Water Act draft rule released in the press today demonstrates the Administration’s intent to give developers and industry a blank check in their quest to destroy the nation’s wetlands and streams, giving new urgency to need for passage of the Illinois Wetlands Protection Act, HB 422.

The state of Illinois has only one million acres of wetlands left today, down from an historical ten million acres. This draft rule puts more than a third of those wetlands that remain at risk of immediate destruction, with significant impacts for the environmental and economic health of the state. {Continue Reading »}