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Chicago Tribune •

Environmentalists push back against US EPA plan to extend coal plant closings

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is facing strong public opposition to its proposed plans to extend closure deadlines until October 2031 for 11 coal plants across the country — three of which are in Illinois and one in northwest Indiana.

But many environmental experts, including Earthjustice senior attorney Mychal Ozaeta, say the proposal caters to the coal industry rather than protecting communities.
Chicago Tribune •

Plans to close dozens of toxic coal ash ponds in Illinois stuck in backlog

ALTON, Illinois — Where the Wood and Mississippi rivers meet in southern Illinois, over a million cubic yards of toxic coal ash sit on the edge of Illinois’ floodplain, threatening the waterways that surround it.

The retired Wood River Power Station is home to one of 72 coal ash impoundments, or ponds, across Illinois that contain byproducts from former coal combustion plants, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Chicago Tribune •

Illinois among states with most cuts to environmental agencies, report shows

In the past 15 years, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has faced major budget cuts and a 21% decline in staffing, according to a recent report from the Environmental Integrity Project.

Illinois is among the 14 U.S. states with the most significant cuts to its state environmental agency, the report by the national nonprofit says. These states, which cross political and geographic boundaries, will likely conduct fewer inspections and weaken protections against pollution, said Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project.
Chicago Tribune •

Illinois settles suit against Monsanto for $120 million for PCBs contamination

Illinois reached a settlement Monday of at least $120 million with Monsanto Co., the largest producer of now-banned PCBs, to address longstanding contamination across the state.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued Monsanto in 2022 over its denial of the health and environmental harms of the hazardous synthetic chemical, known as polychlorinated biphenyls. The lawsuit alleged Monsanto knowingly concealed the dangers of PCBs and continued to produce and distribute it for decades.
Chicago Tribune •

Snowy owls’ unusually early visit to Chicago lakefront could signal migratory boom

Over the weekend, hundreds of curious Chicagoans ventured to Lake Michigan beachfronts to witness a birding marvel: the early arrival of snowy owls.

Two snowy owls have been spotted at Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary and a third briefly at Rainbow Beach, according to the Chicago Ornithological Society.

These are earlier than usual in the season, said Edward Warden, president of the Chicago Ornithological Society.
Planet Forward •

Protecting African forest elephants, the miners of the Congo Basin

Deep within the rainforests of the Central African Republic’s Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas, conservation teams are fighting to safeguard one of the last strongholds of the African forest elephant. 

Here, in a clearing known as Dzanga Bai, forest elephants gather by the hundreds — one of the few places on Earth where this critically endangered species can be observed in such numbers.

What makes Dzanga Bai — meaning “village of elephants” in Sango — so attractive to these African giants? Th...
Circle of Blue •

Chicago Prepares Development Plan For Industrial Zone With Priority for Water and Wetland

Restoring neglected waterways of the Southeast Side.

For 70 years, from 1900 to 1970, the Calumet River on Chicago’s Southeast Side provided the cooling water, waste disposal, and shipping channel for a dense collection of steel, chemical, and metals manufacturing plants matched in few other regions of the country. 

When the last of the plants closed in the late 20th century, Chicago authorities and Southeast Side residents were left with an unyielding and difficult challen...
Circle of Blue •

Chicago’s “Quantum Prairie” Promises New Era of Great Lakes Technology and Water Use

Where the mouth of the Calumet River meets Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Southeast Side is an abandoned lakefront parcel where one of the world’s largest steel mills once operated. For over 100 years, U.S. Steel South Works provided jobs to over 20,000 Chicagoans at its peak and served as one of the Windy City’s largest employers. 

In 1992, South Works closed, leaving behind a legacy of heavy industry and pollution.

Now, Chicago is making a leap forward into the next era of Great Lakes economic d...
Medill Reports Chicago •

Environmental coalitions work to block invasive carp from Great Lakes - Medill Reports Chicago

By Christiana Freitag
Medill Reports
When loud barges pass along the Mississippi River, a flurry of oversized silver carp can be seen leaping into the air. These noise-sensitive invasive fish escaped from aquaponic ponds on the lower Mississippi in the 1990s, and continue to pose an ongoing ecological threat to the Great Lakes. As filter feeders, invasive carp can quickly overtake and overpopulate ecosystems, impacting the food sources of other native fish, according to aquatic nuisance exper...
Inside Climate News •

As Chicagoans Brace for Higher Water Bills, Groups Push for Affordability Reforms - Inside Climate News

On Sunday Chicagoans will face another spike in their water bills after seeing rates more than double over the past 15 years.


The latest increase—4 percent—comes as environmental justice groups are fighting for more water-affordability protections. 


“Water is just as important as energy,” said Iyana Simba, city government affairs director at the Illinois Environmental Council. “If we don’t have water, we don’t have life. So for us, we want to draw attention to the things that are affecting...
Journal Sentinel •

Five years after the world’s largest PCB cleanup ended, how's the Lower Fox River doing?

Nearly five years after the final scoop of contaminated sediment was taken from the Lower Fox River, the river is improving, but it’s still not safe for fish consumption. And it won’t be for quite some time.  That’s according to the latest progress report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on the Lower Fox River and Green Bay Superfund site. In September 2020, Gov. Tony Evers announced the end to the $1.3 billion cleanup of the Lower Fox R...
Planet Forward •

Madagascar caves reveal new insights into climate change

By Christiana Freitag

Most well-known for its unique endemic species like the panther chameleon, the ring-tailed lemur and the cat-like fossa, the island of Madagascar also contains caves which serve as time capsules of the climate history of the western Indian Ocean.


Now, paleoclimatologists are investigating what Madagascar can tell us about the past and future of monsoons as climate change accelerates.


“The question was to understand the mechanism connecting the Atlantic and Indian...

Glacial geologists uncover synchronized timescale of last ice age across both hemispheres with clues to climate

Trekking up windy and swampy fjords of southwestern Norway, University of Maine graduate researcher Katie Westbrook searched for a boulder – but not just any boulder. Westbrook was looking for an ideal ridge of boulders called moraines that could reveal mysteries about the last ice age.

In Lysefjord, Westbrook and fellow glacial geologists used samplings from boulders to build out the chronology of Norwegian glaciers. Examining moraines, such...

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