Reporting by Emma Henry for Block Club Chicago:
CHICAGO — As federal waterway protections face potential rollbacks, the Shedd Aquarium and other Illinois environmental advocates are sounding the alarm — and urging state lawmakers to act before large swaths of Illinois wetlands become unregulated for the first time in decades.
The push comes amid a number of conservation-focused observances. Feb. 2 was World Wetlands Day, and Saturday’s Reverse the Red Day celebrated global conservation efforts. Meanwhile, Congress is considering the PERMIT Act, federal legislation that would narrow which waterways are protected under the 1972 Clean Water Act.
The legislation is part of a broader rollback of federal water protections by Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency. In recent years, the EPA has moved to reconsider or delay stricter wastewater discharge standards for coal-fired power plants and scale back limits on “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, in drinking water.
Environmental advocates are now pressing state legislators and Gov. JB Pritzker to pass the Wetlands Protection Act, introduced by state Sen. Laura Ellman and state Rep. Anna Moeller in February 2025. The bill would require permits for developers seeking to discharge dredged or fill material into state-jurisdictional wetlands.
The Environmental Council’s conservation director Lindsay Keeney said despite opposition from the Farm Bureau, some Illinois farmers have expressed support for protections.
“Nature-based solutions – cheap, easily investible solutions, like wetlands – can store floodwater and maintain their soil health and keep their fields from flooding,” Keeney said. “We’re continuing to sound the alarm that the wetlands that exist currently are without protection.”
Wetlands in Illinois are home to several endangered species, including reptiles and amphibians, 40 of which are particularly at risk according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Prairie Research Institute.