Environmental Progress - Fall 2003

New Initiatives Launched in 2003

Implements Governor's commitment to environment

A s 2003 comes to a close, I am happy to report that Governor Rod Blagojevich and the Illinois EPA have moved forward this year on several initiatives to implement the Governor's commitment to a safe and healthy environment.

From reducing pollutants from school buses, to targeting abandoned used tires, reducing mercury, and cleaning up contaminated industrial sites, we have advanced on a variety of fronts and look forward to even more exciting initiatives and progress during 2004.

This year, we kicked off Gov. Blagojevich's "Drive Green, Illinois! Illinois Clean School Bus Program" carrying out the Administration's priority of Promoting Public Education and Outreach and protecting the health of Illinois' school children. With $2.3 million in a supplemental environmental project from an enforcement settlement, school districts in central and eastern Illinois will start retrofitting and replacing buses to reduce potentially harmful diesel exhaust emissions. The program includes an "Adopt a Bus" component to encourage corporations to provide assistance to other school districts. U.S.EPA provided a grant to retrofit buses at a suburban Chicago area district and to conduct seminars around the state on reducing pollutants from school buses.

The companion new Governor's Green Schools Initiative helped make our schools healthier by collecting hazardous and dangerous chemicals from 117 schools this year. An IEPA educational video was produced to assist school building managers and maintenance personnel make their schools more "green."

The Governor's commitment to public education was implemented through Environmental Excellence Awards presented at the state Science Fair, and the Green Youth Awards.

Project TREAD (Tire Reduction, Education and Disposal), seeks citizen involvement in helping identify and clean up abandoned tire piles that are potential habitats for disease-spreading mosquitoes. This year the equivalent of more than a half-million abandoned waste tires were safely disposed of by the IEPA. The Agency also was a key participant in the launch of "Team Illinois" in Pembroke Township near Kankakee, where abandoned tires were a major problem.

Illinois EPA is carrying out Gov. Blagojevich's commitment to ensuring investigation of environmental justice cases, and has issued an interim policy and procedures, held forums and training sessions, and is using both English and Spanish documents in the outreach effort to seek citizen input on environmental issues and decision-making. We are seeking citizen ideas for future supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) in settlement cases and launched a "SEP Bank" online for project ideas.

Gov. Blagojevich has made the development of a comprehensive plan to reduce mercury releases to the air, land and water a priority of his administration and IEPA has taken several steps forward in that effort. School and household hazardous waste collections removed significant amounts of mercury for safe disposal, and new and more precise mercury monitoring and detection methods are being used for the water and air. Public education and outreach efforts on mercury have been expanded and partnerships are being launched with groups that handle mercury materials.

IEPA is working to implement the Blagojevich administration's priority for stronger environmental standards. This year Illinois became the first state in the Midwest to implement more stringent restrictions on emissions of nitrogen oxides from power plants and large industrial boilers, which contribute to smog formation. The reduction is equivalent to that produced by the 4.5 million on-road vehicles in the Chicago metro area and will have positive benefits for the health and environment of Illinois citizens. The Agency will present recommendations to the Governor at the end of this month, suggesting additional restrictions on power-plant emissions.

Supporting Gov. Blagojevich's "Opportunity Returns" economic development initiative, IEPA this year provided financial and technical assistance to communities across the state that will not only have environmental benefits but economic ones as well. For example, 256 new sites entered IEPA's Site Remediation Program, and cleanups were completed at 86 sites with 1,415 acres available for redevelopment since the Governor took office in January. In addition, six abandoned landfills have been stabilized and covered this year. The drinking water and wastewater revolving loan programs, which are 80 percent federally-funded, continue to play a key role in providing the infrastructure for healthy local environments and economies. Since Gov. Blagojevich took office, a total of 52 new loans were made, totaling more than $222 million. In addition, federal grants through IEPA for nonpoint source pollution prevention such as urban and rural runoff, are enhancing the quality of our rivers, lakes and streams.

The Governor and IEPA are vigorously supporting renewable fuels such as E-85 ethanol, and biodiesel that benefit Illinois farmers and industry as well as cleaner air. The Clean School Bus and Green Fleets Programs continue to enlist dealers and fuel stations for these fuels and Gov. Blagojevich and IEPA hosted a statewide conference to educate fleet managers on the benefits of clean vehicles and fuels.

IEPA provides technical assistance to help facilities identify ways to reduce waste and emissions, benefiting both the environment, and their bottomlines and ultimately the state's economy. This year, the Agency's Pollution Prevention office provided such assistance to more than 80 industrial and agricultural facilities around the state.

There was a significant step forward at Illinois EPA in fulfilling the Governor's pledge to make government more efficient and to streamline regulatory procedures. The Agency will soon implement an on-line reporting procedure for holders of thousands of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and is implementing ACES - the Agency Compliance and Enforcement System that will result in faster and more accurate enforcement and inspection actions.

Finally, a special thanks once again to the many citizens across Illinois who partnered with us, such as the volunteer lake monitors, and members of local watershed protection groups; the participants in Partners for Clean Air and Green Pays on Green Days; and those who reported open dumping and illegal tire piles. Without you, we could not do our jobs. We always welcome your ideas and suggestions.