Farmers and landowners in Christian County have joined more than 100 residents of Sangamon, Morgan and 10 adjacent counties to formally challenge a proposed pipeline that would carry liquified carbon dioxide from the Midwest halfway across the state for permanent underground storage in central Illinois.
Citizens Against Heartland Greenway Pipeline was granted intervenor status this summer in the Navigator Heartland Greenway CO pipeline case pending in front of the Illinois Commerce Commission.
A Southwest Side mom is declaring victory after spending three years warning about peeling lead paint at viaduct passageways where children walk on their way to and from school.
Alejandra Frausto’s campaign was featured in a Sun-Times story in June. Her persistence finally paid off as the railroad that owns the viaduct — with passageways from 63rd to 67th streets along Central Park Avenue — recently agreed to clean up the areas where thousands of paint chips litter the ground.
Work has already begun. Viaduct owner CSX Transportation “developed a plan to stabilize the paint” and “begin sealing” it, the company said in a statement.
Frausto said she was told by CSX that it will remediate two areas before winter and the remainder of the viaduct cleanup will be complete by next summer.
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) Director John J. Kim today announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the purchase and installation of new Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) light-duty electric vehicle charging stations at publicly accessible locations. This opportunity is being made available following the Pritzker Administration’s commitment to focus Illinois’ remaining Volkswagen (VW) Settlement funding on electric transportation and infrastructure. The NOFO and related documents have been posted to the Illinois EPA website.
Through this funding opportunity, Illinois EPA intends to fund a percentage of DCFC light-duty electric charging stations to be located at publicly accessible locations (shopping centers, retail stores, gas stations, etc.) in the three priority areas outlined in the VW Beneficiary Mitigation Plan (BMP) and specified in the NOFO:
Priority Area 1: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties, Oswego Township in Kendall County, and Aux Sable and Goose Lake townships in Grundy County.
Priority Area 2: Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties.
Priority Area 3: Champaign, DeKalb, LaSalle, McLean, Peoria, Sangamon, and Winnebago counties.
Each application must include a minimum of two projects in two or more priority areas. Applications with a minimum of three projects, one in each of the three priority areas, will be prioritized for review, scoring, and funding. Eligible applicants include businesses (corporations, partnerships, sole-proprietorships, and limited liability companies), business trusts, or other legal business entities incorporated in or registered with the Illinois Secretary of State.
All required forms and information can be found on the Driving A Cleaner Illinois webpage. Applications will be accepted September 28, 2022 through 5:00 PM (CST) on December 30, 2022.
A three-year study in northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana found that – even at small scales – emergent wetlands or ponds support many wetland bird species. The study also found that, at least in the years surveyed, the level of urbanization had little effect on most of the studied species’ use of such sites, provided the right kinds of habitat were available.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the surrounding community are about to find out more about their wildlife “neighbors” as a researcher prepares a second public survey of the flora and fauna populating campus.
“Energy workers and their communities in the Illinois Basin face enormous challenges as local oil, gas and coal facilities close down as part of the nation transitions to a clean energy economy. The Biden-Harris Administration made billions of dollars available for energy communities across America to spur economic diversification, advance workforce development, clean up environmentally damaged sites and more.”
Energy Communities IWG Director Brian Anderson, PhD
The new RRT will align federal resources, including regional staff on the ground in the Illinois Basin area, toward key communities experiencing recent or imminent economic downturns from coal mine and power plant closures. Federal agencies serving on the RRT will partner with these workers, communities, and public officials to support them with mapping their current assets and opportunities, navigating and accessing federal funding and technical assistance, and leveraging significant new funding opportunities available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to equity in Rural America begins by ensuring that people in rural places receive the same opportunities people in cities receive to build-up their local economies and create jobs, improve their infrastructure, and strengthen their communities with federal resources,” said USDA Rural Development Deputy Under Secretary Farah Ahmad. “Today’s announcement is the beginning of an effort that will provide critical on-the-ground technical assistance and lay the framework for better and more diverse economic opportunities for the people living in America’s energy communities in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Under the leadership of President Biden, Vice President Harris and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, USDA is a strong partner to people in rural towns because we know when rural America prospers, all of America prospers.”
Stakeholders interested in partnering with and providing input to the RRT can send an email to Contact@EnergyCommunities.gov. The RRT will reach back out to stakeholders with a compilation of meeting notes, points of contact, and next steps soon.
Today’s announcement comes on the second day of a two-day visit by federal leaders to Carbondale. On Wednesday, federal officials toured energy and manufacturing facilities in the area, including the John A. Logan Solar Project, Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale’s Airport & Automotive Program and the university’s iFERM (Illinois Food, Entrepreneurship, Research, and Manufacturing) Hub. Energy Communities IWG also hosted a public workshop today at SIU engaging community leaders, highlighting relevant federal funding, and identifying opportunities for regional economic diversification and growth in response to coal mine and power plant closures.
Background:
Historical investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act present energy communities with a multitude of opportunities to revitalize communities, diversify workforces, and support energy workers.
The Illinois Basin RRT is modeled after similar efforts piloted in Wyoming and the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. The IWG will announce additional regional RRTs in the upcoming months. The RRT effort is part of the IWG’s core goal of creating a national network of assistance for energy communities that is community-driven, in partnership with federal, state, tribal, local, and non-governmental organizations and leaders.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean-energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
The Chicago City Council last weekpassed the 2022 Chicago Energy Transformation Code, which requires that new buildings are constructed in alignment with stronger energy efficiency and electrification standards to advance decarbonization. Most changes will apply to new building permit applications starting Nov. 1.
Changes include requirements related to energy-efficient lighting; designing certain commercial building roofs to support future solar panel installations; constructing residential buildings with infrastructure that enablesa future switch to electric-powered appliances; and incentives for smart HVAC and water appliances that integrate with the power grid to reduce demand during peak use.
Caring for a human baby is hard. Two researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will tell you raising “infant” fish may be even more challenging.
Karolina Kwasek and Michal Wojno are trying to find better ways to hatch and successfully raise yellow perch to the juvenile stage in aquaculture. A married couple with a baby of their own, they use research methods that combine low-tech hatchery equipment, easily copied by professional fish farmers, with creating a new feed that uses the invasive species copi as a protein source.
The research will last through 2023. Success would mean greatly increasing yellow perch’s survival rates at indoor hatcheries, leading to business expansion for more aquacultural ventures and better prices for consumers.
Organized by the Students with Environmental Concerns RSO, students converged by Alma Mater at noon on Wednesday as part of a climate strike that aimed to draw attention to the climate crisis and demand that the University divest from its economic holdings in fossil fuels and nonrenewable energy.
Navigator CO₂ Ventures has filed for a certificate of authority from the Illinois Commerce Commission, a petition it needs to get approved before it can start construction on the 1,300-mile carbon capture pipeline.
The “Heartland Greenway” pipeline is proposed to be built across five states, including Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. About 250 miles of the pipeline would run through 13 Illinois counties…
Opponents are concerned about the pipeline permanently damaging farmland and threatening the safety of residents living nearby.
The Danville Sanitary District is one of three public wastewater treatment plants to receive a third-round grant for energy efficiency upgrades through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Armadillos, with their shells and long snouts, are often found waddling through the Texas desert.
But over the past decade, the animals have started to migrate into Illinois — and now they’re overwhelming the southern part of the state and showing up as far north as Peoria and Springfield. Experts say the shift is partly because of wetter summers and milder winters.
A Cook County jury on Monday awarded $363 million to a woman who alleged medical tool sterilization company Sterigenics exposed Willowbrook residents to ethylene oxide gas and gave her cancer.
It was the first of nearly 800 lawsuits against the company to go to trial.
The jury reached its verdict after a five-week trial and one day of deliberations, awarding 70-year-old Sue Kamuda $38 million in compensatory damages and $325 million in punitive damages.
The verdict exceeded the $346 million Kamuda’s lawyers sought in closing arguments Thursday against Sterigenics, its parent company, Sotera Health; and corporate predecessor Griffith Foods. The jury ruled Sterigenics should pay $220 million; Sotera, $100 million; and Griffith, $5 million.
Located on the bank of the Sangamon River near Monticello, Illinois, sits the University of Illinois RiverLab, built to study the chemical makeup of the river—and provide insights into inland surface waters like never before.
Situated near an array of scenic woodlands, grassy fields, and farms, the RiverLab is no bigger than a shipping container, but it’s far more sophisticated. The front half is a fully functional chemistry lab to analyze the solute concentrations of the river water, and the back half is a pump and filtration system that keeps the water flowing.
The exotic Asian tiger mosquito, known to transmit diseases to humans, is more widespread in southeastern Illinois than previously realized, according to Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) researchers who conducted a study on how invasive mosquito communities form and shift because of different land uses.
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