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“The cover crop pilot program is widely popular and has been an overwhelming success, but it needs to be extended and expanded. This year, the program ran out of funds after only 12 hours, and the program only has enough funding to support farmers on 50,000 acres (less than 2 percent of Illinois’ farmland). That

“The cover crop pilot program is widely popular and has been an overwhelming success, but it needs to be extended and expanded. This year, the program ran out of funds after only 12 hours, and the program only has enough funding to support farmers on 50,000 acres (less than 2 percent of Illinois’ farmland). That

“‘Being able to pass clean energy legislation was conditioned by the speaker to reach agreement with ComEd and Exelon and labor,’ said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, which led the push for renewable energy provisions. Walling, whose group represents more than 90 environmental and community groups in Illinois, said Madigan’s stance

“The Illinois Environmental Council started working on this legislation in 2017. Deputy Director Colleen Smith explained this is the closest lawmakers and advocates have gotten to having the measure reach the governor’s desk. ‘Illinois has an opportunity today with House Bill 3739 to take action and comprehensively address this issue,’ Smith said. ‘We urge the

“‘Even though we say there are around 680 thousand lead service lines in Illinois, there could be much more than that, and there are communities that aren’t aware their own lead service line could be disrupted and cause issues for them and their family,’ Colleen Smith with the Illinois Environmental Council said. Degrading lead pipes

“If states that comprise more than half of the nation’s population were all to adopt California’s emission standards, automakers would have a strong incentive to design and manufacture more zero-emission cars and fewer gas-guzzling autos with internal combustion engines. If Minnesota and New Mexico, which are going through a rule-making process to adopt the standards,

“The Illinois Environmental Council welcomes the announcement from Governor Pritzker and the IEPA that they intend to revise the state’s VW settlement spending plan after seeking public input. Despite the transportation sector being the leading source of carbon emissions in Illinois, the previous administration left Illinois with a plan that would have spent millions on

“This year in Springfield, lawmakers are advancing at least six different bills aimed at making the state’s energy industry more green. The Clean Energy Jobs Act aims to make Illinois 100 percent reliant on clean and renewable energy by 2050. The Path To 100 is a similar plan and supporters say it would create more than 53,000

“The Illinois Environmental Council estimates the state accounts for an eighth of all lead service lines in the country. ‘It is a significant problem in every part of the state, from rural to urban,’ Illinois Environmental Council Deputy Director Colleen Smith said.” Read the full article here.

Virtual Lobby Day made it onto TV! Watch WAND17’s clip on lobby day here.