HOI Group Meetings Pessimism Beats Optimism - Sierra Club

September/October 2007 Volume 35 No. 5

THE HEART OF ILLINOIS GROUP OF THE SIERRA CLUB  P.O. Box 3593, Peoria, IL 61614  (309) 637-1393

HOI Group Meetings Pessimism Beats Optimism

WED Recycling e-Waste,
SEPT 7 p.m.

Michael Hodge, Executive Director of BY RALPH GINN, Opinion Columnist ganization says that environmental haz-
ards, mainly chemicals, are responsible
Recycling for Illinois, Inc., will provide a Contrary to what you may have heard for the deaths of several million children
about optimism from your personal every year. Children are especially vul-
presentation on how RFI, Inc. is taking on trainer, your stock broker, in Sunday nerable to chemical exposures and ne-
school, or at your AA meeting, pessimism glected and/or malnourished children the
e-waste. Come and see what the com- has a Darwinian advantage over opti- most.
pany that offers recycling for “anything mism. A sage of yesteryear, who's name
with a cord” does with your unwanted I've forgotten, maybe it was Mark Twain, Lake Michigan to receive more pollut-
or W.C. Fields, but not Will Rogers who ants: 45,000 signatures to a petition pro-
electronics and how they accomplish their claimed the not to be believed, "I never testing an Indiana Department of Environ-
“no landfill” policy. All are welcome! met a man I didn't like" said optimists mental Management permit will be deliv-
have never made any great contributions ered to Indiana governor Mitch Daniels.
WED Upper Mississippi River to civilization, those belong to pessimists. The permit would allow BP's Whiting
OCT System Restoration, 7 p.m. An optimist is satisfied with the status Refinery to increase the amount of ammo-
quo, the pessimist seeks change. So, hold nia discharged into Lake Michigan by
Brad Walker, River Restoration Coor- your nose here comes a medicinal dose of 54% per day and increase the amount of
dinator for Prairie Rivers Network, will pessimism. suspended solids by 35% per day. In July
present "Upper Mississippi River System the U.S. House approved by a 387 to 26
Restoration." It will be a summary of The world's wild places are falling si- vote a resolution urging Indiana to recon-
restoration efforts on the UMR, past and lent: Newsweek's report on endangered sider the permit. Daniels says he has no
current, with some ecosystem status in- large animals is chilling. Recently, plans to rescind the permit because the
formation on the river as well. PRN is a four adult mountain gorillas were found expansion will mean an estimated 80
statewide organization that's been around killed in the Congo's Virunga National more jobs. Illinois governor Rod Blago-
for nearly 40 years and has concentrated Park. Three females and a 600 pound sil- jevich, has threatened legal action to stop
primarily on clean water issues. Recently, verback male. They were 0.6% of the the permit. To sign the petition online go
they have expanded into the related issue worldwide population of 700. Not killed to: www.ProtectOurLake.com
of river restoration. Everyone is welcome! by poachers, all of their body parts were
left intact by human killers who kill for Save the bees: Albert Einstein is said to
Inside . . . no known reason. The threat to endan- have written, "If the bee disappeared off
gered animals has escalated in the past ten the surface of the globe, then man would
November 2nd & 3rd years as once impenetrable forest has have only four years of life left." Probably
been opened by roads to accommodate an exaggeration, but the honeybee is in
Apollo Theatre, Downtown Peoria logging. Three weeks after a logging fact disappearing and the loss would be an
company opened a Congo forest, the den- agricultural disaster. A strange new
Hosted by HOI Sierra Club sity of animals had fallen by 25%. A year plague called Colony Collapse Disorder
after loggers went into a Malaysian forest, (CCD) is wiping out honeybee colonies
not a single large mammal survived. by the thousands. Normally, a healthy
summer hive has between 40,000 and
In poor countries, one in five children 80,000 bees. Stricken hives have a small
don't live to see their fifth birthday: A
report from the U.N. World Heath Or- (See Pessimism, page 2)

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet

Banner Citizens Offered U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Plans Seen As Threat to
Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Area
Settlement by Attorney
General’s Office BY JOYCE BLUMENSHINE

BY JOYCE BLUMENSHINE Environmental Management Program staff with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Rock Island District Office are planning major work in 2009 at Rice
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office offered Lake State Conservation Area, including building a levee along the Illinois
settlement terms to the Banner Citizens who filed River side, digging a “fish channel” at the south end of Rice Lake to Big Lake,
in Fulton County court, naming Acting Director and adding a 133,000 gallon per minute pump to manage water levels in Big
of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Lake and Rice Lake. Local residents are questioning these plans. While the
(IDNR) Sam Flood, Head of the Office of Mines work is to be done with environmental funds, the millions that would be spent
and Minerals Joe Angleton, and Head of the are seen as detrimental to the overall condition of the conservation area. Long-
IDNR OMM Division of Land Reclamation Scott time Banner residents see the massive ground moving projects as a waste of
Fowler, in a suit. This was in regard to the IDNR tax-payer dollars. The state is to supply part of the funding. Local people con-
response to the citizen’s petition to have Lands tend that site management practices have resulted in a decline in the overall
Declared Unsuitable for Mining at Banner. The health of the area. Many large trees used as eagle roosts on Hoxie Ridge have
settlement offer stated that IDNR OMM would already been lost due to manipulated water levels being held high too long.
redact all references to the issues citizens brought Gravel mining is still being done on Duck Island, and the disturbed lands have
forth as “without merit” and that the citizens not been reclaimed. The Army Corps plans to dump tons of river dredge
could refile their LUMP (Lands Unsuitable to sludge on Goose Island and at a river side location at Rice Lake. The impacts
Mine Petition) if the state denied the mining per- of the sludge dumping, major construction work, and further manipulation of
mit. On August 15th, the citizens directed their the site are not seen as in the best interests of wildlife and habitat health.
attorney, David Wentworth, with Hasselberg,
Williams, Grebe, Snodgrass & Birdsall, to decline HOI EXCOM Nominations Needed
the settlement offer.
Nominations for the HOI EXCOM Board are needed by October 10th. Three
On July 10, 2007, the Illinois Department of board positions will be up for election this year. Board members have a range of
Natural Resources Office of Mines and Minerals opportunities from organizing programs for the general meetings, representing HOI
sent a listing of five issues to Capital Resources at various meetings and events, or being active by contributing ideas. Nominate
Development Company, which has applied to yourself or send in a nomination for someone that would like to be on the Board.
strip mine at Banner, asking for further informa- Meetings are held once a month, and are a great way to participate in your local Si-
tion regarding their mining plans. Capital Re- erra Group. Send nominations to Joseph Laszlo, 330 S. Barnewolt Dr., Peoria, IL
sources has up to one year to respond to the letter. 61604, or call 637-4692.

(Pessimism, from page 1) book, The World is Flat, writes for the did not even touch the idea of either a
number of mature bees trying to take care New York Times that climate change is carbon cap-and-trade system or a carbon
of young, and developing bees. Older not a hoax. The hoax is that we are doing tax.
bees desert the hive or forget to return something about it. In June the Democrat-
from foraging. The hive population dwin- led Senate passed an energy bill that man- Fighting Bush on behalf of fat cats:
dles and then collapses when there are too dates an increase in fuel economy for the U.S. House Democratic leaders have
few bees to maintain it. Possible culprits nations automobile fleet. Automakers pushed through a farm bill, over the ob-
behind CCD are a fungus, a virus, pesti- would have to raise average mileage for jections of many rank-in-file Democ-
cides, a bacterium, genetically modified new cars and light trucks to 35 miles per rats, that is disappointing to reformers and
crops bearing a pesticide gene, and cell gallon by 2020. But, before you celebrate environmentalists. It retains crop subsi-
phone radiations. read the fine print. It also says that if the dies that mostly go to corporate farms
Transportation Department determines with millionaire owners. President Bush
Climate change action Bushed again: that the fuel economy for any given year sought a ceiling on payments to any one
Moveon.org. reports uncovering a plan is too expensive for the auto companies to farmer of $200,000 per year. The Democ-
initiated by the White House that would meet, it can ease the standard. There is rats raised that to $1 million and $2 mil-
block any binding global treaty on climate other squalor. Senate Republicans killed a lion for a couple. In the parlance of a hot
change. Called the Coalition of the Pollut- proposal that would have required utilities dog eating contest, that is called a
ing, the Bush administration is twisting to produce 15 percent of their power from "reversal."
the arms of several foreign governments wind, solar, biomass and other clean-
to join the U.S. in rejecting mandatory energy sources by 2020 (23 states already Optimism, as effused by Glinda, The
greenhouse gas emissions. have such mandates). Republicans also Good Witch of the North in the Wizard of
squashed a tax increase for oil and gas Oz, is the stuff of fairy tales. Look what it
The sum of all lobbies: Gal Luft, co- companies that would have raised $32 got her. She had to give up her magic
chairman of the Set America Free Coali- billion for alternative fuel projects, and ruby slippers to a girl, who didn't know
tion, describes energy legislation working killed a "carbon counter" system to meas- enough to come in out of the rain, so
its way through Congress as not "energy ure sources of greenhouse gases. The bill that the girl, Dorothy, could return to
policy" but rather "energy politics." Tho- Kansas.
mas Friedman, author of the best selling

Apollo Theatre, Downtown Peoria Hosted by Heart of Illinois Sierra Club

► Nov. 2 (Fri.), 7 to 9 p.m.

► Nov. 3 (Sat.), 2 to 4 p.m. & 7 to 9 p.m.

Tickets for each show are $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for children under 12. For more information, call the
Door prizes given at each show. Heart of Illinois Sierra Club at
(309) 637-1393.

Friday, Nov. 2 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3 2 p.m.

Amsterdam: The Bicycling Capital of Europe The Fallz - Journey into South America with local filmmaker Larry

Amsterdam has created a bicycle-friendly city that pro- Huntington as he shares the great power of nature at the Iguazu Waterfall
motes a healthier, more active lifestyle. With people on the border of Argentina and Brazil. (6 min)
meeting face to face instead of bumper to bumper, the
city challenges us to rethink our car-centered lives in The True Cost of Food (animation) - Learn the truth behind your
the United States. (5 min)
weekly grocery bills. The hidden environmental, health, and social costs of
Discover Hetch Hetchy agribusiness food is scary, to say the least. (15 min)

Named after the grass native to its valley, Hetch Hetchy Ride of the Mergansers - Viewers get a rare view into a family of
was once glorious, pristine wild land. Dammed in the
early 1900s, it could be restored to the same splendor as just-hatched merganser ducklings and their perilous leap to the water be-
its neighbor, Yosemite Valley. This recently remade low to begin life in the wild. (11 min)
film, now featuring actor Harrison Ford, tells the story
of the Hetch Hetchy Valley and the campaign to restore Birdsong & Coffee: A Wake Up Call (Feature presentation)
it. (28 min)
What is the natural organic connection between coffee farmers, coffee
America’s Lost Landscape: Tallgrass Prairie drinkers, and birds? Coffee drinkers will be astonished to learn that they
hold in their hands the fate of farm families, farming communities, and
(Feature presentation) entire ecosystems in coffee-growing regions. In this film we hear from
Prior to Euro-American settlement in the 1820s, one of experts and students, from coffee lovers and bird lovers, and the coffee
the major landscape features of North America was 240 farmers themselves. We learn how their lives and ours are inextricably
million acres of tallgrass prairie. But between 1830 and linked, economically and environmentally. (56 min)
1900 the prairie was steadily transformed to farmland.
This drastic change in the landscape brought about an Saturday, Nov. 3 7 p.m.
enormous social change for Native Americans. The
extraordinary cinematography of prairie remnants, Who Killed the Electric Car? (Feature presentation)
original score and archival images are all delicately
interwoven to create a powerful and moving viewing The auto industry’s biggest conspiracy . . . revealed. Running solely on
experience about the natural and cultural history of electricity, General Motors’ fleet of EV-1 electric vehicles were so effi-
America. (60 min) cient, they were on the brink of altering the future of driving in America –

perhaps even the world. Those lucky enough to drive one gave it glowing

reviews. So, why were they all destroyed? Narrated by Martin Sheen,
“Who Killed the Electric Car?” is a murder mystery like no other, as it

unravels the puzzling demise of a vehicle that could have saved the envi-
ronment and America’s dangerous addiction to foreign oil. (93 min)

Copperas Creek Illinois River Landing in Jeopardy Pekin Powerton Coal-Fired
Power Plant Listed for
BY JOYCE BLUMENSHINE permitting processes by the G.W. Bush Violations
administration, no public notice, no pub-
If you have used the boat ramp to the lic hearing, and no public comments are BY JOYCE BLUMENSHINE
Illinois River, enjoyed views of the his- required. Canton plans a water pipeline to
toric Copperas Creek Lock, or in other go to the city water treatment plant at In early August, the federal Environ-
ways appreciated the open space at the Canton Lake, about 9 miles away. Part of mental Protection Agency filed notice ac-
east end of the Banner Dyke Road, this the water pipeline is expected to be built cusing Midwest Generation of not install-
area will be undergoing huge changes if down the Banner Dyke Road to the edge ing pollution controls required under the
current plans proceed. The City of Can- of Banner, and this could result in the Clean Air Act at 6 of its older coal-fired
ton is planning a radial collector well, closing of the road for some time. Public power plants. The Powerton, Pekin, plant
with a vertical pipe diameter of 13 feet access to the Rice Lake Conservation is included in the list, along with five
below ground and 16 feet above ground, Area Ridge Field Walk-In and Refuge plants in the Chicago area. These plants
with 54 pipes running laterally under the Area could also be affected. Please write have added tons of preventable pollution
ground in numerous directions. The in- to Sam Flood, Acting Director, IL Dept. into Illinois air. In 2005, Attorney General
stallation would include four 200-foot- of Natural Resources, One Natural Re- Lisa Madigan wrote to state regulators
long lateral screens which would reach to sources Way, Springfield, IL, 62702, to with a listing of over 7,600 pollution viola-
the aquifer level, estimated at only 10 state your concerns. No information is tions at the six power plants since 1999,
feet thick. This well and the attending currently available if any studies have but no action was taken at the time. Mid-
pumping station will be in the area near been done regarding the proposed 5 mil- west Generation bought these power plants
the end of the Dyke Road. The Illinois lion gallons of water a day Canton ex- from Commonwealth Edison in 1999. Over
Department of Natural Resources has an pects to draw, and impacts on Banner 33,000 asthma attacks a year in Illinois are
agreement with the City of Canton for Marsh to the immediate north or Rice thought to be due to air pollution from coal
management of the boat ramp and park- Lake to the south or to Copperas Creek -fired power plants.
ing lot, however the City of Canton owns and the Illinois River confluence.
about ten acres at the location. Because
of changes made to public water supply

Woodford County Gravel Pit Hearing Postponed Global Warming Solutions
Group Working to
Rescheduled to September 5 & 6, 6 use permit for strip mining. Sierra Club Bring CFL Recycling
p.m., Spring Bay American Legion has contacted the residents attorney, to Peoria
Post 1115 in Bayview Gardens Danny Schroeder dschroe-
[email protected], 688-9400, to discuss BY KIERSTEN SHEETS
BY DAVID PITTMAN ways we can assist the people against this
very large project located very close to The Central Illinois Global Warming
A proposal to develop the largest both current and future residential home Solutions Group is working diligently to
gravel pit in Woodford County is meeting properties. bring CFL (compact fluorescent light
strong opposition from local people. bulb) recycling to Peoria and surround-
Nearly a hundred residents came to the Although letters and phone calls from ing Central Illinois communities. Veolia
Woodford County Zoning Board of Ap- anyone are important, if you are a Wood- Environmental Services, a company in
peals Hearing on June 28, at Spring Bay ford County resident it will be especially Wisconsin, will be coming to the next
American Legion Post 1115 in Bayview helpful if you will please take time to get group meeting to present information on
Gardens. Many had questions and con- involved and write the members of the providing drop-off CFL recycling in
cerns regarding the more than 200 acre Woodford County Board of Appeals, retail stores. Veolia has helped pioneer
proposed gravel pit in Spring Valley, urging a no vote on East Peoria Materials state-wide programs in Maine and Wis-
west of route 26, north of Spring Beach request to re-zone the properties. A no consin. Could Illinois be next? This is
Road and east of Sunset Drive. vote will prevent the gravel pit. Their an incredible opportunity to provide
addresses and published phone numbers Central Illinois consumers with a respon-
They will have to wait. Everyone was are: sible way to dispose of CFLs, which
told to go home and come back in 90 contain small amounts of mercury and
days, because the Zoning Commission Nick Pisano Robert Harbers lead. If you are interested in having this
granted the developer's request for post- 215 Lawndale Ct 119 W Bertram type of service in Central Illinois, please
ponement, until September 5 & 6. This Metamora, IL 61548 Metamora, IL 61548 come to this meeting. The meeting will
determined crowd will be back, for sure. Phone: 309-383-2106 Phone: 309-367-4696 be on Thursday, September 6, 2007 at
And now you have time to write letters or the Peoria Public Library, downtown
make phone calls to help make a differ- Walter Traper Diana Uphoff location, in the auditorium at 6:30 p.m.
ence. Box 211 2897 County Road 60014 Everyone is welcome!
Goodfield, IL 61742 El Paso, IL 61738
East Peoria Materials LLC, hopes to
get the County Zoning Board approval to If you want to learn more, or get in-
re-zone two properties, then apply again volved in other ways, please contact Con-
to the same Zoning Board for a special servation Chair Dave Pittman, dvdpttmn
(g)aol.com. at 676-5237.

HOI Group Calendar

September October Other Events: (Not sponsored by the Sierra
Club but provided as a public service.)
6 Global Warming Solutions 4 Global Warming Solutions
THU Group Meeting, 6:30 p.m. Group Meeting, 6:30 p.m. Prairie Dawgs Work Crew
THU Peoria Public Library, 2nd floor confer-
ence room, downtown Peoria. Check out The Prairie Dawgs meet the 1st and 3rd
Peoria Public Library, basement audito- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ Saturdays of the month at Jubilee State
ciglobalwarming for more information. Park. Work includes prairie burns, eradicat-
rium, downtown Peoria. Check out ing alien plants, native plant seeding, and
planting root stock. Call Doug Franks at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ 691-7993 for more information.

ciglobalwarming for more information. Sept 4 (Tue) – Day of Fasting for the
Climate Emergency. More information at
12 Executive Meeting, 7 p.m. 6 Adopt-A-Highway Cleanup, www.climateemergency.org
9 a.m.
WED Joyce Blumenshine’s home, 2419 E. SAT Meet at the Fry Farm at Rt. 40 and Sing- Sept 22 (Sat) – Day of Action against
ing Woods Road. Gloves and hard-soled British Petroleum for Lake Michigan Pollu-
Reservoir Blvd., Peoria. Call 688-0950 shoes are recommended. Sorry, no helpers tion. Check Environment Illinois at
under 10 years due to safety concerns. For www.environmentillinois.org
for directions. more information, call Rudy Habben at
685-5605. Sept. 27 (Thu) – “What It Means to Be
19 Group Meeting, 7 p.m. 10 Green” program sponsored by your Peoria
WED Forest Park Nature Center. Michael Executive Meeting, 7 p.m. County government, 6-8 p.m. at the ICC
WED Bob and Diane Jorgensen’s home, 212 North Campus. Register (free) at
Hodge, Recycling e-Waste. Everyone is Sunnybrook Dr., East Peoria. Call 698- www.icc.edu/funshops and look under
0325 for directions. “Special Interests” or phone 672-6918.
welcome! Drop off your aluminum
cans at tonight’s meeting and help Group Meeting, 7 p.m. Oct 2-4 (Tue-Thu) - Governor’s Confer-
Forest Park Nature Center. Brad Walker, ence on Management of the Illinois River,
raise money for the HOI Sierra Club. Upper Mississippi River System Restora- at the Peoria Holiday Inn City Centre Ho-
tion. Everyone is welcome! tel. Registration and program information
22 Aluminum Can Drop-Off, at www.sws.uiuc.edu/hilites/conference.asp
SAT 9 to 11 a.m. Newsletter Deadline
Send articles for Nov/Dec to: John Wosik, Oct 10 (Wed) - Sandra Steingraber, Pekin
Drop off your aluminum cans at Forest 17 12409 N. Blackhawk Ct, Dunlap, IL native, and author of "Living Downstream"
Park Nature Center parking lot and help WED 61525, or [email protected] will speak on health impacts of living near
hazardous waste landfills. Watch area news
raise money for the HOI Sierra Club! Newsletter Mailing, 6:30 p.m. media for the location.
Peoria Pizza Works, 3921 N. Prospect
HOI to Host State Sierra Executive 21 Rd., Peoria Heights
Board Meeting in November
SUN
If you can provide some home-baked coffee
cake, cookies, or other treats, for Saturday, 29
November 10th, you will help give a warm
welcome to the Illinois State Sierra Club MON
Board. HOI is hosting this important meet-
ing. Call Rudy at 685-5605 for more infor-
mation or to volunteer baked goods.

Appreciation and Thanks
to all those making donations to HOI Sierra Club

in memory of
Euell Lindsey

- 0703

Heart of Illinois Sierra Club

Hotline: Local Meetings & Outings ● Action Alerts (309) 637-1393
Contacts ● Leave Messages

Executive Committee HEART OF ILLINOIS NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph Laszlo . . . . 637-4692 [email protected] Sierra Club PEORIA, ILLINOIS
Vice-Chair . . . . . . . . . . Rudy Habben . . . . . 685-5605 PERMIT NO. 104
Co-Secretary/ P.O. Box 3593
Calendar Sales . . . . . . Diane Jorgensen . . 698-0325 [email protected]
Co-Secretary . . . . . . . . Robert Jorgensen . . 698-0325 [email protected] Peoria, IL 61614
Conservation Chair . . . David Pittman . . . . 676-5237 [email protected]
Political Chair . . . . . . . Wendy Marquis . . 243-9982 Rockymtpoohbear . . . To explore, enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth . . .

@mchsi.com

Newsletter Editor . . . . John Wosik . . . . . . 243-2230 [email protected]



Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Golden . . . . 579-2967
Membership Chair . . . Norman Ewing . . . 686-4122
Outings Chair . . . . . . . Chuck Buchna . . . . 693-8587
Mining/Landfill Issues Joyce Blumenshine 688-0950 [email protected]

L Unbleached 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper