Full Text of HR0394 101st General Assembly
HR0394 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed encompasses 10.2 percent of | 3 | | the State and includes all or parts of 22 counties; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed starts in Champaign County | 5 | | and ends at the Mississippi River in Randolph County; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed includes 13 House Districts | 7 | | and eight Senate Districts of the Illinois General Assembly; | 8 | | and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed has three authorized Corps | 10 | | projects, Lake Shelbyville, Carlyle Lake, and the Kaskaskia | 11 | | Navigation Project; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The Corps projects generate 7.4 million visitors | 13 | | and over $167.2 million in visitor spending; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, An estimated 557,837 people are served by public | 15 | | water from the Corps project in the watershed; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The Kaskaskia River provides water for cooling | 17 | | purposes to three power plants, one being in the top five power | 18 | | producing-plants in the world; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The Kaskaskia River is degrading by a headcut that | 2 | | travels at a rate of one mile per year; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Damages induced by headcutting result in | 4 | | increased dredging, loss of private property, and significant | 5 | | ecosystem degradation to the riverine environment; the largest | 6 | | contiguous stand of bottomland hardwood forest in the State of | 7 | | Illinois is also affected; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, The United States Congress established the | 9 | | Kaskaskia Watershed Restoration Act in 2007 and authorized | 10 | | $20,000,000 for critical projects after a Comprehensive Plan is | 11 | | developed; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, In 2014, the Army Corps of Engineers funded the | 13 | | Watershed Comprehensive Plan with $1.5 million in federal funds | 14 | | with a requirement of a 50 percent match of non-federal funds; | 15 | | and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The Comprehensive Plan is stalled due to the lack | 17 | | of financial support from the State of Illinois; the remaining | 18 | | $300,000 in non-federal funds is needed to complete the plan | 19 | | and to leverage $20,000,000 in federal funds; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Time is of the essence in that the federal funds | 21 | | will be reprogrammed to other states; failure to move forward |
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| 1 | | will eliminate the Kaskaskia Watershed from consideration in | 2 | | the future; therefore, be it
| 3 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 4 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 5 | | we urge all four caucuses and the Governor to consider the | 6 | | Kaskaskia Watershed Comprehensive Plan when creating the | 7 | | upcoming fiscal year budget.
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