The Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) outlined a policy agenda for tackling five critical environmental issues, including a new focus on global warming, and took stock of progress made to date with the annual release of the IEC’s two most influential publications.

Priorities for a Healthful Illinois: 2008 Illinois Environmental Briefing Book, looks ahead to the top issues that must be addressed in the coming year if the state is to make a significant difference in the quality of life for its citizens and offers recommendations on specific policies and courses of legislative action.

The 2007 IEC Environmental Scorecard casts a view back over the past year to assess how Illinois legislators responded to the IEC’s previous Briefing Book recommendations. In that document, the IEC highlighted four environmental hot buttons: clean and affordable energy, funding for open space acquisition and conservation, protection against toxic pollution and the Great Lakes.

The top environmental issues spotlighted in the 2008 IEC Briefing Book are: Global Warming, Environmental Health, Open Space, Transportation, Water Quality and Quantity. They were selected by IEC member organizations as priorities based on their effect on our health and natural heritage and the ability of Illinois decisionmakers to have an immediate impact, according to IEC Director Jonathan Goldman.

Recommendations for action in 2008 range from instituting standards for automakers to build cleaner cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prohibiting the disposal of e-waste in landfills to investing in high-speed rail for public transportation.

“This is an exciting year to be releasing a document of this kind and to be working with Illinois legislators on such issues as global warming,” said Goldman. “We’re at a tipping point in our understanding of the urgency of the need to address these problems, and we’re uniquely situated in Illinois, the heart of the Midwest and Great Lakes region, to have a national impact with the policies proposed in the Briefing Book.”

The agenda presented by IEC in its 2007 Briefing Book set the stage in last year’s legislative session for significant gains concerning that year’s four priority issues of clean, affordable energy; open space funding; toxic pollution and the Great Lakes. The successes included:

• The Affordable Clean Energy Standards Act, which aims to have 25 percent of Illinois electricity generated by clean, renewable energy by 2025 by reducing the load two percent annually.

• Two new bills addressing mercury pollution – HB 943, prohibiting the sale of mercury-containing devices, and SB 1241, which bans the sale or installation of mercury-containing thermostats.

• Increased appropriations for the Natural Areas Acquisition Fund (nearly double) and the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Fund.

• The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Water Resources Compact, a legally binding agreement among the eight Great Lakes states to work together to manage and protect this precious resource.

To recognize Illinois lawmakers who took action on these and other important environmental issues in 2007, the IEC held an awards dinner March 5, 2008, during which IEC board and staff honored 16 top legislators with a 100% pro-environmental voting record. They are:

Senator Don Harmon
Senator Carol Ronan

Representative Sandy Cole
Representative Barbara Flynn Currie
Representative Sara Feigenholtz
Representative John Fritchey
Representative Deborah Graham
Representative Julie Hamos
Representative Greg Harris
Representative Lou Lang
Representative Karen May
Representative David Miller
Representative Elaine Nekritz
Representative Harry Osterman
Representative Kathy Ryg
Representative Eddie Washington

“It important to recognize those legislators who have worked hard to improve the environment in Illinois and put their votes where their mouths are,” said Goldman. “But it is equally important to hold others accountable for their records and show them how they can step up their efforts to improve Illinois’ environment.”

Copies of Priorities for a Healthful Illinois and the 2007 IEC Environmental Scorecard can be downloaded here.