Legislative Action Special Section                                                       

The 1993 spring session was barely over when environmentalists turned their attention to the fall veto session and next year's legislative gathering. They hope these future sessions bring more success for "green" initiatives than did the one that ended in mid-July.

"This session has been a natural disaster for the environment," said Rep. Clem Balanoff (D-32, Chicago) as the session wound to a close in July. "Until the environmental movement becomes more organized . . . and the tremendous influence of lobbyists and the open checkbook of dumpers and polluters is lessened . . . nothing will change."

One failed measure in particular frustrated proponents. It would have provided a permanent money source to clean up 120 hazardous waste sites throughout Illinois. The state is responsible for cleaning these sites because they either have been abandoned or belong to a bankrupt owner. Clean-up costs have been estimated at $143 million.

In 1989 the state ran out of clean-up money from bond sales. While emergency state funds or federal Environmental Protection Agency money can be used to clean the 37 sites identified as posing imminent threats, the others must sit on a waiting list until funds become available.

Senate Bill 534 would have raised fees for dumping waste at landfills and used the money to pay clean-up costs. Hazardous waste disposal fees would have been raised from 9 to 15 cents per gallon in 1997. Solid waste disposal fees, which now vary across the state, would have been leveled statewide at 60 cents per cubic yard, then raised to 70 cents per cubic yard next year. For the first time, incineration of PCB wastes (polychlorinated biphenyls) — toxic chemicals that have been exempt from disposal fees — would have been subject to a fee. Fees paid for incineration and disposal of waste would have been equalized.

The bill would have continually allocated $8 million a year — $4 million from hazardous waste disposal fees and $4 million from solid waste tipping fees — to clean-up costs.

"This isn't even a lot of money," Balanoff said. "We're talking about raising $4 million to $9 million this way — that's less than a drop in the bucket of what we need. But the solid waste industry will not support any fee increase."

The measure passed easily in the Senate last year and unanimously this year but was not called for a vote in the House either time — a signal of waste haulers' strong hold over lawmakers through campaign contributions, say the bill's supporters. "I think it's a shame when partisan politics gets in the way of something important like this," said Mary A. Gade, director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. If the sites remain uncleaned, Balanoff said, they will "sit there and continue to leak into the ground." Lawmakers did pass a measure (HB300) to raise $110 million through bond sales to clean a backlog of leaking underground gasoline storage tanks. As of early August, it awaited Gov. Edgar's signature.

Lawmakers did pass a measure (HB300) to raise $110 million through bond sales to clean a backlog of leaking underground gasoline storage tanks

One measure signed by Edgar outraged environmentalists. It strips local governments — except Chicago — of the authority to regulate pesticides. Supporters billed the effort as friendly to farmers, providing them relief from a mix of fertilizer and pesticide regulations imposed by suburbs spreading into farmland. Some suburbs have enacted various requirements relating to pesticides, such as notification of apartment

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building dwellers before pesticides are sprayed. Opponents, including the Illinois Municipal League, contended that local governments should retain the right to regulate pesticides in their areas.

Also spurring acrimonious debate was a proposal that would have banned leaf burning in counties with populations greater than 100,000. The measure was opposed by downstate lawmakers, who said it would be expensive for rural residents to have yard waste hauled away. The measure passed 77-26 in the House but was stripped of its contents in the Senate.

Another proposal, sponsored by Sen. Patrick J. O'Malley (R-18, Palos Park), would have given local governments the ability to veto construction of a solid waste incinerator within five miles of their municipalities' limits. It passed the Senate 36-13 but died in House committee. When lawmakers return for the October veto session, one issue high on many agendas is the need to expand vehicle emissions tests in the Chicago and Metro East St. Louis areas. A vote on the matter was delayed this spring. "I think a lot of people thought there was already so much controversy during the spring session — with the granny tax and all — that people could focus on it more clearly if it was brought back in the fall," Gade said. A plan for expanded testing must go to the federal Environmental Protection Agency by November 15.

One issue high on many agendas is the need to expand vehicle emissions tests in the Chicago and Metro East St. Louis areas

Aside from such required action, looking ahead doesn't inspire much hope in the hearts of the "green-minded." For any significant environmental reform to move forward, Balanoff said, "what we really need next session is serious campaign reform." "The way it is now," he said "the interest groups hold a tremendous amount of clout through their campaign contributions — almost a stranglehold over the legislature." *

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