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* Press release…
Following legislation passed by the General Assembly to impose the nation’s strongest controls on ethylene oxide emissions, the Illinois EPA has issued a construction permit to Sterigenics U.S., LLC. The permit is the first step in a lengthy process and allows the company to begin construction necessary to ensure the facility complies with a strict new state emissions law that requires demonstrating 100 percent capture of all ethylene oxide emissions.
“The Illinois EPA is committed to protecting the health and safety of Illinois communities to the strongest extent possible under state and federal laws,” said Illinois EPA Director John Kim. “This construction permit is a direct result of legislation passed by the General Assembly and will allow Sterigenics to attempt to bring the facility in line with the nation’s strongest emissions control law. This is the first step in a lengthy process, and only following strict testing and monitoring requirements would the facility be permitted to operate. As we move forward, the Illinois EPA will continue to provide technical guidance to legislators as they draft further legislation to strengthen their initial law.”
The construction permit allows Sterigenics to make significant emissions control changes only to the Willowbrook I facility and ensures the company will not operate prior to installing these new controls and demonstrating the ability to meet the new limits established in the permit. Required improvements include installing a permanent total enclosure, capturing all ethylene oxide emissions from Willowbrook I, and installing additional air pollution controls to reduce emissions by 99.9 percent or to 0.2 parts per million. In addition, the permit goes beyond the requirements of the Matt Haller Act by limiting annual ethylene oxide emissions from the facility to just 85 pounds. In conjunction with the permit, Illinois EPA is also issuing, pursuant to the Act, a certification that the facility’s emission control system uses technology that produces the greatest reduction in ethylene oxide emissions currently available.
This permit action by the Illinois EPA follows action by the Pritzker Administration to seal the Sterigenics facility. After passage of the Matt Haller Act by the General Assembly, the State of Illinois and DuPage County State’s Attorney reached a consent order to ensure the toughest requirements of the new Act, as well as additional controls, would be applicable to Sterigenics’ operations in Willowbrook.
Sterigenics is prohibited from using ethylene oxide at Willowbrook I until the facility complies with the new law, the consent order, and the construction permit. This means that before resuming operations, Sterigenics must:
• Submit a stack test protocol for emissions testing for Illinois EPA’s review and approval including written notification of the expected date of the testing, description of the specific procedures to be utilized during stack testing (including how the entire batch sterilization process shall be tested, who will be performing the sampling and analysis, the specific conditions under which testing will be performed and why those conditions are representative, the specific determinations of emissions and operations intended to be made, the specific test methods to be used, and any changes from standard methodology to accommodate specific testing circumstances), a proposed schedule that provides for stack testing within 14 days after any restart of operations, and the submission of the results of such testing (including a summary of the results, a description of the test methods and conditions, and all relevant data and calculations);
• Submit an ambient air monitoring plan for Illinois EPA’s review and approval. This plan must include a description of the process that will be used to collect and analyze air samples, the schedule for implementing the air monitoring plan, and details to demonstrate how the company will comply with the requirement that the results of such testing shall be provided to the Illinois EPA no later than 30 days after the samples have been collected;
• Submit a plan to continuously collect emissions information for the Illinois EPA’s review and approval;
• Complete installation of permanent total enclosure system;
• Demonstrate that the permanent total enclosure system captures 100% of all ethylene oxide emissions;
• Perform stack testing and submit results for Illinois EPA review. These results must demonstrate to IEPA that the company has reduced the emission of ethylene oxide from the exhaust point by at least 99.9% or 0.2ppm;
• Complete installation of continuous emissions monitoring system;
• Submit a construction completion report for Illinois EPA’s approval; and
• Be able to provide certification to the Illinois EPA by the supplier of a product to be sterilized that sterilization by ethylene oxide is the only available method.
Prior to permit approval, the Illinois EPA took written comments on the draft permit for 30 days and held a public meeting on August 1, 2019 to afford concerned citizens an opportunity to provide oral comments. After careful review and consideration of over 500 comments, the Illinois EPA made numerous changes to the draft permit. The Agency concurrently issued a responsiveness summary to lay out its responses to the many comments received – this extensive document may be found on the Illinois EPA’s Ethylene Oxide webpage. A copy of the final construction permit, responsiveness summary, memorandum on technology certification and memorandum supporting modeling are available on the Illinois EPA’s website at
https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/community-relations/sites/ethylene-oxide/Pages/default.aspx.
That link is broken. Trying to get a better one. Link is now fixed.
Some heads are gonna explode in the Willowbrook area.
This post will likely be updated with responses.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Press release…
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) released the following statement on the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to approve the Sterigenics construction permit application:
“The IEPA’s approval of the Sterigenics construction permit is disappointing, discouraging and downright wrong. Our fight is not over – we will continue working to pass new legislation in veto session that will allow municipalities to ban the use of ethylene oxide within their boundaries.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove)…
The Illinois EPA’s approval of Sterigenics’ permit is disappointing, but not unexpected. Since the beginning of this public health crisis I have stood with the residents of Willowbrook and worked with them to ensure this facility never again reopens. Today’s decision will not deter us from continuing the fight to close this facility and rid our communities of ethylene oxide. I look forward to working with all of those interested in the General Assembly dedicated to keeping our communities healthy and safe.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Governor’s office…
Today, Illinois has the toughest regulations on ethylene oxide in the nation, but Governor Pritzker is calling on the General Assembly to pass even more stringent restrictions in the veto session to protect residents’ health. Upon taking office, Governor Pritzker’s administration shut down Sterigenics. During the shutdown, the Governor asked the General Assembly to pass the strictest possible law on ethylene oxide emissions. It’s clear now that the legislation was insufficient, so during the upcoming veto session, the Governor expects that the General Assembly will strengthen the law they passed this spring. He is committed to signing the measure and the administration will strictly enforce it.
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* Center Square…
The former state of Illinois employee who successfully challenged the payment of forced union dues by public workers was back in federal court Friday to ask a judge to force his former union to return about $3,000 in dues he paid while working for the state in a case that could have wider implications for public workers nationwide.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that requiring state employees to pay union dues was a violation of Mark Janus’ First Amendment rights.
The former state child support specialist was in federal court Friday in Chicago seeking reimbursement for some of the union dues he previously paid.
“it’s just a simple matter of, they took the money and I want it back. That’s all there is to it.” Janus said comments outside of a federal courtroom in Chicago.
In court, Janus’ legal team argued that the dues were collected illegally and that he was entitled to receive about $3,000 back from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ Union.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that Janus was not entitled to the dues collected while he was contesting paying them to AFSCME. On appeal, Janus’ lawyer, Bill Messenger, attorney at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, argued that the money was collected illegally. […]
Diana Rickert, vice president of the Liberty Justice Center, said a favorable ruling could cost public employee unions about $100 million to $150 million dollars. She said the legal process could take years to play out.
*** UPDATE *** AFSCME Council 31…
Courts have repeatedly ruled in this and similar cases that in setting fees for representation provided to non-members, AFSCME acted in good faith based on a US Supreme Court ruling in place since 1977 and repeatedly affirmed in the ensuing decades. When the 2018 Supreme Court ruling overturned that previous decision, AFSCME immediately halted all fees. Consequently we have a very strong case, which we made to the appellate panel today.
Mark Janus received wage increases, health insurance coverage, vacation time and other benefits that the union negotiated during his tenure in state government. He never once failed to accept such improvements in his working conditions, nor did he ever object to paying the related fees—until he became the plaintiff in Bruce Rauner’s court case against AFSCME. This prolonged litigation is nothing but another political attack on working people, and on Janus’s part, a greedy grab for more.
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* Staff memo from Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Chief of Staff Melissa Coultas…
Please be aware that Alan Lowe is no longer in the service of the State of Illinois. I will remain in close contact with the Governor’s Office until a new Executive Director is identified. In the interim, all issues that would normally go to Alan will be handled by Toby Trimmer, Dave Kelm and me.
I’m told he was walked out of the building by a deputy governor.
Lowe came to Illinois from the George W. Bush Presidential Library Museum a few years ago.
Trimmer and Coultas were both hired just last month, so there’s not much institutional knowledge at the top. Kelm, the general counsel, was hired last year during the Rauner administration. He’s worked for Jim Edgar and House GOP Leader Jim Durkin.
I’ve been promised a response from the governor’s office.
…Adding… After checking around, the highlighted text below from this August Bruce Rushton story appears to be at least some of what’s going on today…
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum again has gotten cozy with conservative talk show personality Glenn Beck.
Mercury One, a Texas nonprofit founded by Beck, boasts on its website that the ALPLM was a partner in a recent weeklong exhibit on slavery at the institution in Irving. Other partners included the African American Museum of Dallas, the Dallas Historical Society and Frontiers of Flight Museum.
It’s not clear what artifacts, if any, the ALPLM might have loaned. Last year, the museum sent the Gettysburg Address and other artifacts to Mercury One for display with less planning and fewer safeguards than had been employed in past instances when the copy of Lincoln’s famous speech, valued at $20 million, left the building.
*** UPDATE *** From the governor’s office…
The administration terminated Mr. Lowe’s employment today. We cannot comment further on personnel matters. We look forward to working with the team of museum professionals, historians and librarians at the ALPLM to ensure that the institution is meeting its high standards.
…Adding… From WBEZ earlier today…
A possible auction of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia displayed at Illinois’ presidential museum in Springfield is being put off due to an apparent uptick in fundraising, according to the private foundation that owns the artifacts.
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Last year’s threatened fire sale by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation shocked the history world. Facing an October deadline, the group was about to sell off some coveted historical artifacts because it was having trouble paying off a $9.7 million loan balance left from the original purchase of the items.
A spokesman for the foundation, which purchases Lincoln artifacts for the presidential museum, attributed the change of heart to a less dour financial picture than what the group foresaw last year.
“I am pleased that our fundraising is going very well,” Nick Kalm, a vice chairman of the foundation’s board, told WBEZ in a statement.
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* Wow…
* More…
Amazon plans to sign a pledge to meet the goals of the Paris Climate agreement by 2040 and be net carbon neutral 10 years ahead of schedule, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said on Thursday. […]
Bezos said Amazon was placing an order to buy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian Automotive LLC and to use 100% renewable energy by 2030, up from 40% today. Amazon and Ford Motor Co are among the investors in the EV startup. Amazon will also invest $100 million to restore forests and wetlands.
Cox Automotive recently announced a $350 million investment in the company, which will produce vehicles at its Normal plant.
…Adding… From May of last year…
At a press conference in Springfield, Illinois Governor Rauner Bruce Rauner fired off harsh words at automotive startup Rivian.
“That plant should have well over 1,000 people today. And that plant should have brought hundreds of millions of dollars today,” said Rauner, in response to a reporter’s question.
Contradictory to Rauner’s comments, Rivian appears ahead of schedule to employ 400 people across the country by the end of the year. The company is also ahead of their employment objectives at the facility in Normal. AdaptBN learned last week that Rivian already employs north of 325 people across the country and is still on track for production in 2020.
This isn’t the first time Rauner has made confusing statements surrounding Rivian’s involvement in the state. In an interview earlier this year Rauner stated, “No auto company wants to invest in Illinois because of Madigan’s power, because of regulations and the taxes.”
Genius.
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