Don Corydon volunteers six mornings a week, six months a year at the Crete Lions Club Recycling Center, rising before dawn most days to operate the loading dock doors and help out as needed on the sorting floor.
During the warmer half of the year you can find him on the golf course instead, except on Saturdays and rainy days when he’s back on duty at the recycling center.
Corydon’s fellow Lions Club members can forgive him for slacking off a little during the summer. After all, he’s 90.
This is National Volunteer Week, when we’re supposed to honor the people who step up to donate their time and effort to making our communities better.
* The Question: Do you volunteer for any charities? Explain.
Labor coalition Climate Jobs Illinois today announced that it will expand the accountability, ethics and transparency reforms in the Climate Union Jobs Act by adding amendments from Rep. Larry Walsh Jr. and Sen. Michael Hastings. The action makes the Climate Union Jobs Act the most comprehensive legislation before the General Assembly this spring to move Illinois toward a clean energy economy.
Among the reforms being added to the Climate Union Jobs Act are:
• Establishing an independent Electric Utility Monitor to oversee ComEd during the deferred prosecution period. ComEd would be required to pay the state for the cost of the monitor. That cost cannot be passed on to customers. The monitor will:
o Conduct annual ethics audits and
o Document any violations and ensure disciplinary action is taken.
• Costs associated with state and federal investigations cannot be passed on to customers.
• Audit of whether the projects authorized under the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act were prudent and reasonable. Any costs associated with compliance could not be passed on to customers.
• Require that ComEd pay customers an amount equal to the fines paid as a result of its deferred prosecution agreement.
* So I reached out to Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago), the chair of the House Energy & Environment Committee ans sponsor of the CEJA bill…
As Chief Sponsor of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, I remain focused on holding utilities accountable and ensuring a robust set of ethics and transparency provisions are the foundation of any clean energy package. I look forward to partnering with my friends in organized labor to make that happen as we work to create equitable jobs. All utilities should be held to the highest ethical standards and adhere to best practices in terms of accountability.
Exempting some utilities from oversight is not in the best interest of Illinois consumers, and returning to a self-policing model after only 2 years is insufficient. The proposals in CEJA would place independent monitors at every utility, require each utility to track interactions with public officials, prevent subcontracting of lobbyists, and provide standards to ensure every contract is on the up-and-up.
* Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello was on Tom Miller’s radio show yesterday and talked up ongoing events at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, which is booked solid almost every weekend until mid-November…
Costello: So, there’s a lot going on, and we’re just extremely, extremely excited to get back into some sense of normalcy.
And saying that, I do have to give a plug here. I ask anybody, obviously getting vaccinated is a personal decision, but the more people that are vaccinated in the state and the more people in Southern Illinois, the more likelihood that all of these events are going to look more like they used to than maybe what people are expecting right now. So really, from a personal aspect, I’m just hoping that as many people as possible are getting vaccinated.
Miller: You were one of the first people to say ‘We’re doing this’ while everybody else was still kind of huddled up and sucking their thumbs, you were saying, ‘No, we’re going to get back out and we’re gonna get this thing going.’ You were one of the first.
Costello: You know, Tom, a lot, in my opinion, has to do with a positive mental attitude. And if we get things going in the right direction, and we’re talking to people about what we need to do to make things happen… And look, the fairgrounds is a huge place. Car Craft Street Machine Nationals for instance. There’s no reason we can’t spread it out a little more and have it be a safe environment, but still get people outside and bring them to Du Quoin. I mean, these are situations where you could have 45-50,000 people over a three-day period of time. That is a huge economic boost to Southern Illinois, not just Du Quoin, but to Marion, to Carbondale. I mean, the whole area, Christopher. These are major, major events that just bring a ton of revenue into southern Illinois.
Please, go get your shots. And wear a mask indoors and when in crowds to protect others who may not be able to get their shots (people with cancer, for instance, or kids) or haven’t yet been fully vaxed. Hopefully, we can all have a fun summer and I can go see Jamey Johnson at the Du Quoin State Fair.
* I told subscribers some time ago that multiple sources say Ald. Ed Burke has a very bad habit of using racist language in private conversations and that, among a whole lot of other things, could be a real problem for him as his case moves forward…
Ald. Ed Burke on FBI tape, discussing problems with the Old Main Post Office project: “[W]ell, you know as well as I do, Jews are Jews and they’ll deal with Jews to the exclusion of everybody else unless…unless there’s a reason for them to use a Christian.”
Prosecutors call the recordings of Ed Burke's calls "powerful evidence of Burke's involvement in unlawful activity." They say he's trying to keep them from a jury. pic.twitter.com/h6aqAM2IwT
The following is a statement from Illinois State Senators Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) and Laura Fine (D-Glenview)–the only two Jewish members of the State Senate–in response to Ald. Ed Burke’s antisemetic comments revealed today:
“When he thought no one was listening Ed Burke revealed his true self. Simply said, Alderman Burke’s remarks smack of blatant anti-semitism and are both ignorant and repugnant.
“For starters, he owes an apology to the Jewish community.”
* Jim Meadows interview with Rep. Darren Bailey last October…
JM: Speaking as a legislator yourself, if this emergency comes before the General Assembly, how do you want the state to address the COVID-19 outbreak?
DB: Well, I’ve been arguing that since day one. Many states never closed. Just about every state around us seems to be open right now. It seems to me that as we keep closing, as we keep restricting people, in every case: this is a virus. It’s not going to disappear. So it’s much like the flu. So we have flu season, every fall, we know this comes around. This is probably something that, from the information that I’m hearing from the doctors that I talked to that, this may rear its head from time to time. So to destroy the local economy over this, the financial pandemic, that’s the true pandemic that’s taking place. The mental health pandemic that’s taking place. Our school children, in many cases are being kept home. The nursing homes are being locked down. So as a representative, I hear this all day long from people across the state. That’s what I’m standing up (and) fighting against.
JM: Is there also a danger that if that approach is taken, that the level of outbreak may go higher than it is already right now?
BAILEY: Obviously. The numbers are spiking again. But so far, when we see the numbers spike, they come back down. But if we continue to pull back in and rein ourselves in, we are preventing what probably is going to have to happen with the virus. Are we waiting on a vaccination or some medications take care of this? I don’t know when that’s going to come. When’s the next strain of another virus going to come? We are not getting the answers from the Illinois Department of Public Health that we are asking for. The data and the information that they tell us they have, they don’t present it. And constantly, their mitigation situations have changed many times. So it’s certainly a situation where, we’re free Americans, and my argument is that we should live like that. Because what’s at stake with the shutdowns is our economy and our mental health situation.
JM: When you said, “what probably has to happen with the virus,” are you talking about herd immunity?
DB: Possibly, yes. If you need to wear a mask, you wear a mask. If you’re concerned, you stay home. But to continue to destroy the economy as is being done, we’re going to see some long-lasting effects that I don’t believe that we’re fully aware of right now.
(“Herd immunity” occurs when enough people become immune to a disease to make its spread unlikely. That can happen when enough people receive a vaccine or survive being infected with the disease. Most health experts say herd immunity to the coronavirus by infection is a dangerous strategy that would likely lead to more deaths. Rep. Bailey’s opinion on herd immunity follows ideas expressed in the Oct. 4 Great Barrington Declaration, written by medical professors Sunetra Gupta, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, and sponsored by the libertarian American Institute for Economic Research.)
That interview was done just before the virus surged wildly out of control. And opening up nursing homes back then would’ve been an unmitigated disaster.
* Natalia Dagenhart interview with Sen. Darren Bailey last week…
Q. As Illinois governor, would you mandate a coronavirus vaccine?
A. Absolutely not. The government’s role is to educate and advise. When the government starts mandating and forcing people and telling them what to do - we have problems.
Q. Do you think that it would be fair for Illinois employers to request their employees to get vaccinated in order to keep their job? What about schools? Should they mandate a coronavirus vaccine?
A. Absolutely not. I am adamantly opposed to that.
Q. Many states are opening up. Would you open Illinois? Should we open concert halls, opera houses, and other cultural institutions?
A. Yes, I would never have closed them. If the government advises and lets people choose, people have their own choice of where to go and what to do.
The state can’t mandate an experimental vaccine and the shot hasn’t yet been approved for children, but does it sound to you like he was for herd immunity before he was against it?
A number of hospitals in northwest and central Illinois are filling up — and at least one ran out of intensive care unit beds — amid the latest COVID-19 surge.
Recent spikes in cases have been seen across the state, including in the Chicago area where ICU bed availability is also down, though not as severely. Even as some coronavirus metrics in Illinois have improved slightly this week, certain hospitals are continuing to feel squeezed.
About a half dozen Illinois hospitals operated by OSF HealthCare had at least 90% of their beds filled Tuesday, said Dr. Michael Cruz, chief operating officer.
OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria was at 97% occupancy as of Tuesday morning. OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford was at 96%, and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington had no available intensive care unit beds, Cruz said.
Hoping to flex a little Springfield muscle, mayors representing hundreds of municipalities in metropolitan Chicago today launched a campaign to get lawmakers to stop dipping into the share of state income tax receipts meant for cities and villages, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year at stake.
There are distinctly mixed signs as to how the mayors will fare, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office standing by its view that if municipalities want help, they ought to get behind his plan to close $900 million in “corporate tax loopholes.” […]
A Pritzker spokeswoman said the solution is simple: back the plan to close loopholes. Because some of those loopholes affect local tax collections, that step would generate $228 million a year for local governments, more than the proposed $152 million cut in the local distributive share.
But Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett likened that to “a shell game.” Instead of “using our money as some sort of leverage,” he said, Pritzker ought to restore the distributive share.
As pot smokers across Illinois celebrated 420 — marijuana’s unofficial high holiday — state Rep. La Shawn Ford quietly filed a long-awaited amendment to a bill that aims to resolve the state’s beleaguered cannabis licensing process and vastly expand the legal weed industry.
“This is driving home the intent of the cannabis law of Illinois,” Ford, a Chicago Democrat, told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. “We want to get to the point of true social equity.”
Ford’s proposal would most notably create up to 120 new pot shop licenses, adding to the 75 dispensary permits that have remained in limbo for nearly a year. Those outstanding licenses were the first prioritized to social equity applicants, a designation created by the law that legalized recreational weed in an effort to diversify Illinois’ white-dominated marijuana industry.
State Sen. Win Stoller, R-Germantown Hills, has Senate Bill 2531 at the statehouse that would change state tax code so businesses can take advantage of a change the IRS approved allowing them to file as an entity, rather than on the individual level.
“The beautiful thing about this is it will cost Illinois nothing,” Stoller said. “It’s completely revenue-neutral to Illinois.”
He said if passed and signed into law, the measure could lower the federal tax burden for more than 400,000 Illinois pass-through businesses, S-corporations and partnerships in Illinois. […]
The measure is also supported by state Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, especially because it is revenue-neutral.
“And in a time where Illinois continues to face the challenge that we do, being able to provide some relief to our small businesses and help economic growth and job creation is something I think everyone should get on board,” Martwick said.
* More bipartisanship from Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) and Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) writing in the Sun-Times…
In House Bill 3123, we are proposing the Build Illinois Homes Tax Credit to build on the federal aid, providing that needed boost to private housing developers ready to go to work. We estimate building 3,500 homes or apartments every year through the program, supporting 17,150 jobs over the next 10 years and creating more than $1 billion in extra income for Illinoisans over a decade.
Illinois would join 20 states now using the tax credit to match more federal funds for building affordable housing, and recent congressional action means there are even more federal aid dollars available for these projects.
The best news? While the tax credit comes with an estimated annual $35 million price tag, Illinois will see zero expenses until the projects are complete and the housing occupied. We will see the direct benefits of today’s investment at no cost to taxpayers until more people have a place to call home. We must credit the leadership of the Illinois Housing Council and its coalition of supporting partners for helping us push for this long-term solution.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 2,765 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 28 additional deaths.
- Champaign County: 1 female 100+
- Cook County: 1 male 40s, 2 females 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s
- DuPage County: 1 male 70s
- Greene County: 1 female 70s
- Kankakee County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 80s
- McDonough County: 1 male 70s
- McLean County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s
- Peoria County: 1 male 70s
- Rock Island: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s
- Wayne County: 1 male 90s
- Whiteside County: 1 male 50s
- Will County: 1 female 50s, 1 male 90s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 60s
- Woodford County: 1 female 60s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,309,552 cases, including 21,722 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 81,133 specimens for a total of 21,920,359. As of last night, 2,191 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 521 patients were in the ICU and 237 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from April 14-20, 2021 is 3.8%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from April 14-20, 2021 is 4.4%.
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses for Illinois is 10,358,875. A total of 8,342,542 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 122,842 doses. Yesterday, 140,712 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* ILGOP Chair Don Tracy in a recent email to party members…
Pritzker fights to cut taxes for the rich, himself
It was revealed recently that Governor JB Pritzker joined with six other Governors from high-tax Democrat-led states in penning a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to eliminate the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT cap) - a provision of the 2017 Republican tax cuts.
A study from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that if Governor Pritzker - champion of the so-called “Fair Tax” - were to get his way and the SALT cap was lifted, 62% of the resulting benefits would go to the top 1% of income earners. And 86% of the benefits would go to the richest 5% of Americans. Governor Pritzker is in the top 1%.
The 2017 Republican tax law was a tremendous boon to the middle class because it nearly doubled the standard deduction for single and joint filers, while the SALT cap is not applicable for the vast majority. Governor Pritzker is begging Biden to end the SALT cap that primarily targets the richest Americans, including himself.
Governor Pritzker begging Biden to lower his tax bill and that of his billionaire buddies is not surprising given his history of trying to avoid taxes. But this time, instead of writing a work order for a contractor to rip out the toilets in his mansion, he wrote a letter to the President. JB needs to answer how many thousands of dollars he stands to save if Biden grants his wish.
Pritzker bucks Lightfoot to force property tax hike
A Chicago public employee pension bill was just signed into law that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and business groups opposed, “arguing that the cost to taxpayers would be too high.”
Dan Petrella of the Chicago Tribune reports…
Lightfoot sent a letter to aldermen on April 1 urging them to oppose the bill. She said it would double pension costs by $18 million to $30 million each year.
“If the governor does not veto this bill, the city will have to find a means to address the increased cost since the legislation does not provide a way to pay for these increase costs,” Lightfoot wrote.
“During the 2022 budget season, it will then fall on the members of the City Council to make difficult decisions to pay for these additional costs.”
She said “the obvious revenue solution, another property tax increase…”
The bill passed in Springfield was signed by the Governor and Tax-Avoider-In-Chief himself, JB Pritzker. As a Chicago resident, Governor Pritzker should be sensitive to the ever-growing tax burden the city inflicts on its residents, but since he has a history of dodging taxes that others have to pay (stashing his fortune away in offshore accounts, ripping out toilets of his Gold Coast mansion to lower his property tax bill, begging Biden to lift SALT cap), Pritzker likely doesn’t mind because he’ll just find a way to avoid paying it.
The Governor’s lifestyle is so far removed from the average working family in Chicago he may be under the assumption everyone has a second mansion they can rip toilets out of to lessen their tax burden. Well, he’s wrong. At a time when the pandemic has hit small businesses and workers the hardest, the last thing Chicagoans need is the Governor stepping in to hike their property taxes. Take it from Mayor Lightfoot, Pritzker’s legislation will raise property taxes.
* Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Joe Sosnowski has introduced HR121…
Urges the Governor and the Illinois Department of Revenue to explore administrative or legislative options that will allow Illinois residents to voluntarily contribute any amount in excess of what they are required to pay the State of Illinois under Illinois income tax laws.
Illinois’ climate is swiftly changing, becoming warmer and wetter and signaling long-term shifts that could push people, cities and ecosystems to the brink. If the planet fails to curb greenhouse gas emissions, what’s ahead could be more worrisome.
In an extensive new report released Tuesday, the Nature Conservancy details how Illinois’ climate has transformed and looks forward to what more change might mean for the state’s agriculture, human health and already-stressed ecosystems. […]
Even after curbing carbon emissions to meet certain bench marks, the changes in Illinois by 2100 could be stark: average annual temperatures warming 4 to 9 degrees, a month of 95-degree or higher temperatures, 3 more inches of spring rain, more flooding, and compounding health risks from heat, waterborne pathogens and diseases carried by mosquitoes and ticks. Not to mention the mental strain of living through it all. […]
Increased carbon dioxide levels may benefit soybean crops in the short term, but as drought and heat intensify, elevated levels may make things worse. Corn yields are likely to be reduced by 2050 and may be particularly vulnerable to warming nighttime temperatures. Some planting zones may shift north.
With increasing precipitation, a wet spring could delay planting. In 2019, among the wettest years on record , about 1.2 million acres of corn and soybeans went unplanted, the assessment notes. Wetter weather can also cause erosion, which can make soil less resilient to extreme weather.
Nuisances — weeds, pests and disease — may also become greater problems, requiring more applications of control measures, including pesticides.
Climate change in the form of increased precipitation and rainfall intensity tend to increase nutrient loads in rivers. However, other factors (e.g., wetland restoration) can also influence riverine nutrient loads. Combined sewer outflows (CSOs) affect water quality in urban streams and rivers and Lake Michigan in the Chicago region. Both CSOs and increased overland flooding cause environmental damage and public health hazards, such as increased exposure to infectious diseases and contaminated drinking water.As surface water supply is often limited by low streamflow, unless it is augmented by in-channel or off-channel storages, climate change may increase risks of inadequate surface water supply in drought conditions. Projected increases in precipitation would increase recharge to shallow aquifers. This could result in higher water tables during springtime conditions, increasing basement flooding and necessitating more tile drainage in row crop areas. Conversely, more intense summer droughts could result in lower water tables during peak pumping conditions in the summer, potentially impacting the sustainability of the groundwater resource used in water supply.
Native prairie plants that can tolerate drought, including big bluestem, prairie milkweed, Illinois bundleflower and rough blazing star, will likely fare better than other species. Invasives may take the place of plants that wither under warming temperatures. The common, pesky weed Johnsongrass, which can grow to be 8 feet tall, may be one of the species that benefits from warming, going on to overrun grasslands further north. Warming may additionally offset the timing of blooms — a particular threat for butterflies that rely on nectar for food.
As the cost of federal elections rises almost every year, just 12 megadonors from both sides of the aisle — at least eight of whom are billionaires — made up a combined $3.4 billion in contributions to federal candidates and political groups in the past decade, a new report shows.
This means that the top dozen donors — six of whom largely supported Democrats and six of whom generally supported Republicans — accounted for 7.5% of the $45 billion donated to federal political causes between January 2009 and December 2020, according to the analysis by Washington-based good-government group Issue One, based on campaign finance data compiled by the nonpartisan research group Center for Responsive Politics. […]
Other Republican megadonors were shipping industry executive Richard Uihlein, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, Pan Am Systems Chairman Timothy Mellon, former TD Ameritrade CEO and Chicago Cubs co-owner Joe Ricketts, and hedge fund manager Paul Singer, the report said.
The lede’s $3.4 billion figure is kinda misleading because Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer spent a combined $1.3 billion on their own federal campaigns.
But, according to the group, Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein contributed $138 million, Ken Griffin gave $107 million and Joe and Marlene Ricketts kicked in $66 million. Democrat Fred Eychaner gave $92 million.
* I did a quick search of the Illinois State Board of Elections website to see how much those folks contributed to Illinois committees since January of 2009…
Industry-connected political appointees in the Trump administration blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from investigating ethylene oxide polluters and prevented career staff from warning thousands of Americans who live near sources of the cancer-causing gas, according to a scathing new report from the agency’s inspector general.
The latest findings by the independent watchdog add more details to reporting by the Chicago Tribune since August 2018, when the Trump EPA released the latest National Air Toxics Assessment without notice and left it up to state and local officials to decide for themselves whether to draw attention to elevated cancer risks in their communities.
On multiple occasions, the inspector general found, Trump political appointees in Washington ordered staff in the EPA’s Chicago office to dramatically scale back efforts to understand the dangers of ethylene oxide in the Midwest, most notably in west suburban Willowbrook and two north suburbs, Gurnee and Waukegan in Lake County.
Repeated political interference and a woeful lack of public education about the dangerous gas ran counter to the EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment, the report concluded.
* This press release was issued late yesterday afternoon…
Joint Statement from Leader Jim Durkin, Rep. Deanne Mazzochi and Sen. John Curran:
“In a comprehensive audit that was conducted between March of 2019 and February of 2021, the OIG found that the US EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation delayed communicating known health risks to community members in and around the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook. Through the investigation, the OIG’s office also found a complete lack of policy requirements and protocols to help ensure the public would be notified in a timely manner when a potential health risk was identified at an ethylene oxide emitting facility.
While the findings in the audit should come as no surprise to those of us who fought the Sterigenics battle back in 2018, they are nonetheless alarming. The US EPA’s own mission and risk communication principles stress the importance of communicating accurate health and environmental risks to the public and involving them as legitimate partners. The US EPA and Office of Air and Radiation failed at every turn, and instead placed thousands of area residents in danger. This matter needs to be further investigated to determine whether the acts constitute negligence or even worse, collusion with the company.
Our decision to shut down this polluter was the right thing to do for our constituents and our communities. This should never happen at any level of government, including state and local government.”
* Also from yesterday…
Today, U.S. Reps. Brad Schneider (IL-10), Bill Foster (IL-11), Lauren Underwood (IL-15), and Marie Newman (IL-03) released a joint statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Inspector General’s report that Trump political officials blocked ethylene oxide (EtO) monitoring in Illinois:
“The Trump Administration ignored our calls – and cries from our communities – for help when we knew the profound threat posed by EtO. The Trump-appointed leadership at EPA actively stood in the way of meaningful action in Lake County when they should have been making sure that Americans were safe from this known carcinogen. We look forward to working with the Biden Administration to guarantee appropriate federal monitoring of EtO under the law—and the proper engagement of affected communities in addressing the issue.”
The OIG report outlines how the Trump Administration’s “then-senior leader in the Office of Air and Radiation, who was a political appointee, instructed Region 5 to not conduct inspections at ethylene oxide-emitting facilities unless invited by the state to conduct a joint inspection,” and that the EPA “did not conduct public meetings with residents either near the Medline facility in Waukegan, Illinois, or the Vantage facility in Gurnee, Illinois.”
Stop Sterigenics, an organization dedicated to protecting public health through exposing and educating the public of the dangers of ethylene oxide (EtO), is calling for the US EPA to take immediate steps to mitigate the harm caused by EtO and the misconduct in which their predecessors engaged. The US EPA prevented the notification to communities nationwide about the cancer risk they face due to EtO exposure. Stop Sterigenics demands that, as outlined below, the US EPA immediately notify affected communities nationwide, conduct inspections, and create risk assessments based on perimeter testing at all facilities known to emit EtO.
Stop Sterigenics and the community around Willowbrook, IL was thrust back into the news last week after the US EPA Office of Inspector General released a report finding that Trump appointees knowingly and willfully hid the truth about the dangers of EtO. Career EPA employees have characterized the situation as another “Flint-level” crisis. Political appointees instructed US EPA employees not to conduct testing or inspections, to remove critical information from public view, and prohibited the notification of communities about their risks.
Ethylene oxide, which is slightly heavier than air, can persist in the air for weeks; is constantly emitted by facilities that use it for 24/7 operations; can be more concentrated indoors and at lower levels of buildings; and is particularly dangerous for children. The area around Willowbrook, IL, a suburban community about 20 miles from downtown Chicago, has suffered a staggeringly high rate of cancer which has been connected to the release of tens of thousands of pounds of EtO by Sterigenics, a sterilization facility located in a residential community, for over thirty years.
“Communities across America are breathing in this dangerous chemical and people are getting sick and dying. It is clear that the US EPA was protecting the profits of these companies while sacrificing our health. These officials need to be held accountable and trust must be regained by taking the steps necessary to protect public health,” said Gabriela Tejeda, a resident whose home is less than half of a mile away from the former Willowbrook Sterigenics facility.
“After several Congressional requests from myself, Senator Durbin, Senator Carper, Representative Richmond and Representative Foster, the EPA Office of Inspector General revealed what we unfortunately expected: the Trump Administration chose corporate profits over the safety of our communities. They refused to take a public health crisis seriously and put Illinoisans at risk when they knew the impact ethylene oxide’s carcinogenic emissions could have on communities like Willowbrook and Waukegan.
“Since 2018 I’ve called for an investigation into the wrongdoing by Trump’s EPA, and I’m glad these communities finally have the answers they deserve, but the fact remains that they should never have had to experience this. It’s unacceptable that civil servants were instructed by senior Trump political appointees to not conduct inspections of toxic emissions, delay public notifications of dangerous levels of emissions and refuse to hold public meetings with residents impacted by this harmful cancer-causing chemical.
“EPA is supposed to ensure that everyone has access to accurate information to effectively manage health and environmental risks, and that communities have the right to participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives and livelihoods. Trump’s EPA failed that mission and our state. I will continue to work with EPA, Region 5 and Illinois to ensure that protocols are in place so that this abuse of power never happens again.”
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Bribery, corruption, and formula rates have decimated public trust in utility regulation.
Instead of passing another rate hike, let’s pass a comprehensive clean energy bill.
Illinois’ legislature has an opportunity to finally hold utilities accountable, while addressing the climate crisis, creating thousands of equitable clean energy jobs, and lowering electric bills all at the same time.
The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) is the only energy bill that installs an independent monitor in the headquarters of ComEd and Ameren. CEJA also refunds customers for ComEd’s violations and creates a new Accountability Division at the Illinois Commerce Commission to protect residents against future offenses. You can read the full list of CEJA’s accountability measures here.
As we get closer to May 31st, profit-hungry utilities are getting more aggressive. Missouri-based Ameren spent more than $40,000 on Facebook ads alone in just the last few weeks as they try to pass a bill that would drastically increase electric formula rates and expand them to gas customers.
We have just five weeks left to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act. Let’s get it done.
Central and southern Illinoisans told lawmakers Monday they’re concerned about transparency and fairness as Democrats aim to redraw legislative and congressional maps in the state.
Democrats invited the public to share their thoughts on redistricting at two dozen hearings statewide, including one Monday evening in East St. Louis.
Stanley Franklin, president of the NAACP’s East St. Louis chapter, said he is concerned about racial gerrymandering suppressing Black voters. He asked for a comment period before lawmakers vote on a map so the public could have a chance to weigh in.
Democrats, who control redistricting, must approve a map by June 30 per the state constitution. But 2020 was not a traditional year, and the COVID-19 pandemic will delay United States Census Bureau data by months. Complete data won’t be available until the end of August at the earliest.
It means that the maps could be drawn without the benefit of a full census. […]
[Republican] legislation (SB1325) would empower the Illinois Supreme Court to appoint a 16-member commission composed of seven Democrats, seven Republicans and two independents.
During the hearing Monday night, Sen. Christopher Belt (D-Belleville) reminded lawmakers that the Illinois constitution doesn’t require census data for redistricting. The state won’t receive that critical data until the middle of August or early September. He stressed the General Assembly must have new maps completed by June 30.
“This means we cannot put off this process until census data is released as some have argued we should,” Belt explained. “If the General Assembly misses the June 30 deadline, mapmaking will be turned over to a commission of political insiders. The public would be cut out of the process entirely. This is not an independent commission as some have wrongly claimed. It is a commission of political appointees named by legislative leaders.”
Belt argued moving to that process is a “disservice” to the people of Illinois. Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) later called the Republican proposal a false choice.
“Republicans know that this bill is nothing but a smokescreen. A bill cannot trump the constitution. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that. A bill cannot trump the constitution,” Crowe said. “We have a June 30 deadline to draw a map. If we fail to meet that deadline, we – Democrats and Republicans – have failed.”
* This all reminded me of a 2001 quip by the late Sen. Vince Demuzio (D-Carlinville) highlighted by John Oliver’s show a few years ago. The Democrats had won the lottery which gave them the right to draw the new map after the Senate spent 10 years under Republican rule. So, Vince was naturally a bit exhuberant at the time…
