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NEWS & UPDATES
STATEMENT: Bill to address plastic pellet pollution heads to Gov. Pritzker’s desk
Illinois to officially recognize plastic pellets as a pollutant under state law
IL Legislature Makes Historic Progress on Environmental Justice Policy
Stage Now Set for Chicago’s Comprehensive Cumulative Impact Ordinance
Illinois Weighs Early Warning System For Pesticide Spraying Near Parks, Schools
What makes Illinois’ bill distinct is the parks provision within the spray area, as studies point to particle drift and widespread injury across non-target public and private lands.
Letters: Elwood gas plant demonstrates the need to replace fossil fuel plants with renewable energy sources
Until data center developers are required to bring their own clean energy and capacity resources and are held accountable for their outsized impact on the grid, the strain on our power grid will be untenable. It’s time to pass the POWER Act (SB4016/HB5513) and ensure the new energy era builds on CEJA, delivering a clean energy future for Illinois communities, consumers, businesses and even data centers.
Plea for Black farmers
Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) -Agriculture is yet another area in which Black leaders say they are denied access. “For too long, Black farmers and growers have faced systemic barriers from land loss, discrimination in lending, equitable access to state and federal programs, and the erosion of community welfare that comes with it. These are not just agriculture issues,” said Cate Caldwell (pictured, left), a senior policy manager at the Illinois Environmental Council. “Hear me clearly: they are environmental justice issues, they are economic justice issues, they are civil rights issues.”
Data centers are cropping up all over Illinois. How do they work?
“There are a number of folks who are really concerned that the influx of data centers will make it harder for us to achieve the clean energy goals we set in [Illinois’s 2021 climate bill] because of how much electricity they require and also how much demand they put on our grid,” said Hannah Flath, director of communications at Illinois Environmental Council. “We’d like to see them be held accountable to the goals that our state has set, and they certainly have enough money to do so.”
SCORECARD & NEWSLETTERS
Legislative Scorecard
See how your state legislators voted on bills affecting the environment.
Newsletters
Read the most recent IEC Newsletter and view our archive going all the way back to the 1970s.
RESEARCH & REPORTS
Grayslake data center opponents call for wetlands protection: ‘Wetlands are incredibly important’
Opponents of the Grayslake T5 data center are focusing on almost 16 acres of wetlands on the site that developers have applied to fill in, seeing it as a potential stopping point for a project that has sparked increasing resistance.
Rockford CEJA Ecosystem Training Next Generation of Clean Energy Workers & Investing in Local Community
Rockford, Illinois – Today, The Workforce Connection, Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois (Goodwill), Think Big! Corporation, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Illinois
Data Center Policy Debate in Illinois Spans Environmental, Economic Goals
Andrew Montequin for WTTW: Data centers are a hot topic in Illinois and around the country. Alongside more construction comes more public scrutiny — of
2025 Annual Report
Explore our IEC and IECEF Annual Report to learn more about the state of our organizations and the progress we made in 2025.
Fighting for a Clean Community through a Toxic Tour & Fireside Chat
For Metro-East residents, environmental justice is a daily fight against chronic flooding, sewage backups, and toxic air.
As Trump hacks away at environmental protections, Illinois strengthens them
A bill headed to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk will end Illinois’ automatic adoption of weakened federal environmental standards.