Durbin: Senate Approves More Than $111 Million for Illinois Projects

From the Office of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that late last night the U.S. Senate has approved $111,037,000 for energy- and water-related projects in Illinois.

The Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill includes funding for the following projects:

Army Corps of Engineers:

• Carlyle Lake, Carlyle. $5,171,000 in funding for operations and maintenance at Carlyle Lake, the largest man-made lake in Illinois, with over 26,000 acres of water and 11,000 acres of public land. Funding is needed to provide flood control, water quality control, and water supply to nearby communities; recreation; fish and wildlife conservation; and is authorized to augment navigation flows downstream on the Kaskaskia River. This project is situated in Clinton, Fayette, Bond, and Marion Counties.
• Chain of Rocks, Madison County. $6,500,000 in funding for a deficiency correction includes the installation of relief wells, construction of levee berms, a pump station, relocations, and mitigation. The levee protects a major urban area and is located in Madison County.
• Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal Aquatic Nuisance Species Barrier System, Chicago. $5,000,000 in funding to continue operation of a system to eliminate potential bypasses of non-indigenous aquatic nuisance species such as the Asian Carp and continue construction of permanent barriers.
• Chicago Shoreline, Chicago. $3,500,000 in funding to complete the reconstruction of the crumbling Chicago Lake Michigan Shoreline consistent with a Project Cooperation Agreement.
• Des Plaines River Flood Damage Reduction Phase I, Statewide. $6,800,000 in funding to continue construction work on Levee 37 and complete construction of Palatine Road. Funding is also needed to address flooding issues in other affected municipalities, including Big Bend Lake.
• Des Plaines River Flood Damage Reduction Study Phase II, Statewide. $500,000 in funding for hydrology, hydraulic studies, and formulation for the remaining tributaries and the main stem Des Plaines River. The study is being conducted to determine how to further reduce main stem flooding, reduce tributary flooding, and restore degraded ecosystems within the Des Plaines River basin.
• East St. Louis, Statewide. $2,000,000 in funding for the replacement/rehabilitation a flood control project that provides flood protection to 200,000 residents and over $1 billion in economic value. The project is located in St. Clair and Madison Counties along the bank of the Mississippi River.
• East St. Louis and Vicinity, Statewide. $540,000 in funding to restore bottom land forest habitat; flood plain prairie habitat; marsh and shrub swamp habitat; lake habitat; and upland riparian forest. The project is located in Madison and St. Clair Counties.
• Emiquon Preserve, Fulton County. Special language directing the Army Corps of Engineers to give priority funding consideration to restore aquatic ecosystems in Fulton County’s Emiquon Preserve.
• Inter-Basin Control of Great Lakes-Mississippi River Aquatic Nuisance Species, Chicago. $300,000 in funding to continue a study, including consultations with appropriate Federal, State, local and non-governmental agencies on the range of options and technologies to prevent the inter-basin transfer of aquatic nuisance species, including Asian Carp.
• Lake County Wetlands Restoration Study, Lake County. $200,000 in funding to initiate a county-wide study of wetland preservation and restoration as a means to increase flood control. The loss of wetlands and the increase in population has the potential to exacerbate flooding issues, degrade water quality, and negatively impact wetland resources.
• Lake Shelbyville, Shelbyville. $5,454,000 in funding to provide flood control, water supply, recreation, conservation of fish and wildlife, and water quality control and augments navigation flows downstream on the Kaskaskia River.
• McCook and Thornton Reservoirs, Chicago. $25,000,000 in funding for continued construction of the McCook Reservoir in the Chicago Underflow Plan. This project benefits the City of Chicago and 36 suburban communities by reducing untreated sewage back flow into Lake Michigan and reducing basement flooding by protecting nearly 150,000 structures.
• Mississippi River Dredging, Western Illinois. $900,000 in funding to allow the Rock Island District of the Corps of Engineers to dredge the Mississippi River in various communities along the River.
• Nutwood Drainage and Levee District, Greene / Jersey Counties. $300,000 in funding for construction activities related to levee improvements and expansion.
• Peoria River Front Development, Peoria. $50,000 in funding to allow for the start of design efforts on lower islands.
• Prairie du Pont Sanitary District and Fish Lake Drainage and Levee District. $464,000 in funding to assess the potential for reconstruction of deteriorated features at a levee plagued with underseepage problems. The study area is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River in St. Clair and Monroe Counties.
• Rend Lake, Rend Lake. $5,386,000 in funding to provide flood control, water supply, recreation, conservation of fish and wildlife, and area redevelopment. This project is located near Benton, Illinois, in Franklin and Jefferson Counties.
• South Fork of the South Branch of the Chicago River (Bubbly Creek), Chicago. $100,000 in funding to continue a study that will determine how to restore natural flow conditions, reduce impacts of combined sewer overflows, reduce degradation caused by sediments, restore natural fish and related habitat function, restore diverse native aquatic and plant species and manage public access through the project area.
• Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Plan, Western Illinois. $640,000 in funding to expand an ongoing ecosystem study of the Upper Mississippi River to include the impact of tributaries on the River. The study will determine federal interest in greater flood risk management for transportation infrastructure, flood reconstruction, and system-wide flood risk management, ecosystem restoration, nutrient management, recreation, and watershed management.
• Upper Mississippi River Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program, Western Illinois. $9,000,000 in funding for continued preconstruction engineering and design work. This work is a necessary precursor for the construction of a new lock and dam system on the Upper Mississippi River.
• Upper Mississippi River Restoration, Western Illinois. $18,000,000 in funding for continued ecosystem restoration along the Upper Mississippi River, including construction work around Batchtown and Swan Lake, Illinois, and design work for Wilkinson Island and Rip Rap Landing, Illinois.
• Wood River Levee, Wood River. $1,170,000 in funding for the reconstruction and replacement of various components of 26 closure structures, 38 gravity drains, and 7 pump stations. These actions are required to maintain the system’s authorized level of protection. The project is located in the Mississippi River flood plain of Madison County, upstream of the city of East St. Louis.
• Operations and Maintenance, Statewide: The following projects were also included in the bill under U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance: Calumet Harbor and River ($3,120,000); Chicago Harbor ($3,889,000); Chicago River ($493,000); Farm Creek Reservoirs ($352,000); Kaskaskia River Navigation ($2,148,000); Lake Michigan Diversion ($683,000); Surveillance of Northern Boundary Waters ($685,000); Waukegan Harbor ($492,000).
• General Investigations, Statewide: The following project was also included in the bill under U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, General Investigations: Illinois River Basin Restoration ($400,000).
• Construction, Statewide: The following project was also included in the bill under U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Construction, and General: Alton to Gale Levee District ($300,000).

Department of Energy:

• City of Monmouth, Illinois. $500,000 in funding for a renewable energy co-generation project that will use industrial waste to power homes and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere.
• Illinois Environmental Council, Springfield. $500,000 in funding for research, evaluation and public education programs to support efforts to make large buildings, such as commercial buildings, energy-efficient and LEED-certified. A model building project will serve as a national demonstration of the process to move large buildings toward energy-efficiency.
• Loyola University, Chicago. $500,000 in funding to expand Loyola’s efforts to measure air and water quality with sensors in the Chicago area. The project will build on existing programs by increasing the number of key sites where measurements will be taken and analyze new threats including volatile organic compounds and particulate metals in the air, and hormones, pesticides and pharmaceuticals in water.
• Riverside Medical Center, Kankakee. $500,000 in funding to support the installation, operation and demonstration of wind turbines at Riverside Medical Center. These turbines will reduce energy costs, minimize the environmental impact of the hospital, and demonstrate cutting-edge technology with implications for the use of wind energy across the country.