Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign legislation passed last week by
the Illinois General Assembly that would save Cook County senior citizen
homeowners $200 annually on their property tax bill, Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Three bills in Congress received co-sponsorship from Illinois legislators this week ranging from a call to audit the Pentagon to an investigation of the environmental and health consequences of fracking. We take a closer look at the bills.
Voting on the controversial Illinois fracking bill has been delayed as a House committee failed to meet and vote on the measure today, as initially expected.
More than 100 protesters descended on the Illinois Statehouse in
Springfield yesterday to rally against a regulatory bill and call for a
moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in Illinois.
Opponents to hydraulic fracturing say it has a negative environmental
impact, including extreme water and air pollution. Demonstrators
yesterday spoke with legislators and passed petitions that urged
lawmakers to support a two-year moratorium on fracking in Illinois.
As the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act was moved to committee yesterday, a coalition of 15 organizations sent a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly, asking for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, instead of regulations on the oil and gas drilling technology.
The following was written by Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter.
The prospect of the gas industry coming Illinois to extract gas
from beneath our state using high-volume hydraulic fracturing has caused
a great deal of controversy and concern, especially in parts of
Illinois where leasing for drilling rights has been underway for well
over a year. Horror stories from other states about open pits of toxic
wastewater, secret brews of toxins injected into the earth, air
emissions sickening neighbors, and contaminated drinking water are just a
few of the impacts seen elsewhere. Read more »
The Nebraska-based energy company Tenaska, Inc. negotiated a deal
with state lawmakers this week to run a proposed electricity plant in
Taylorville on natural gas instead of coal gasification, and the amended legislation will be called before the House Public Utilities Committee next Thursday.
But
environmentalists against the original proposal remain opposed for now –
they contend that the new legislation will let Tenaska phase into the
more expensive and environmentally risky proposition of converting
Illinois’ abundant downstate coal into gas.
“It is kicking the most
expensive and dirty parts down the road,” says Jack Darin, director of
the Sierra Club Illinois chapter. Read more »
More than 100 protesters descended on the Illinois Statehouse in
Springfield yesterday to rally against a regulatory bill and call for a
moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in Illinois.
The following was written by Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter.
The Nebraska-based energy company Tenaska, Inc. negotiated a deal
with state lawmakers this week to run a proposed electricity plant in
Taylorville on natural gas instead of coal gasification, and the 