Full Text of SR0169 97th General Assembly
SR0169 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan | 3 | | was reversed one hundred years ago to protect the safety of | 4 | | drinking water for the Chicago region and to facilitate | 5 | | navigation and commerce through a series of locks and canals; | 6 | | and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, In 2008, the Port of Chicago in the Chicago Area | 8 | | Waterway System was ranked 6th in the United States for exports | 9 | | to other countries by the United States Commerce Department; | 10 | | and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The Chicago region's five biggest exports were | 12 | | chemicals ($6.1 billion), computers and electronic products | 13 | | ($5.2 billion), non-electrical machinery ($3.4 billion), | 14 | | transportation equipment ($3.2 billion), and electrical | 15 | | equipment, appliances, and components ($1.7 billion); and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, A 2007 study commissioned by the Illinois Chamber | 17 | | of Commerce estimated that $29 billion worth of petroleum, | 18 | | chemicals, building materials, farm products, coal, and other | 19 | | products and raw materials travel through the Chicago area | 20 | | locks and canals annually; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The continued operation of Chicago's system of |
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| 1 | | locks and canals is vital to ensure its continued status as the | 2 | | strategic transportation hub of the Midwest; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) | 4 | | and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have enacted | 5 | | several steps to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake | 6 | | Michigan, including creating three electronic barriers, eDNA | 7 | | testing, and two fish kills in December of 2009 and June of | 8 | | 2010; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Litigation has been pursued by Great Lakes states | 10 | | to order the closure of the locks and canals to try and prevent | 11 | | Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has rejected the | 13 | | preliminary injunction to close the Chicago Area Waterway | 14 | | System's locks and canals; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, In December of 2010, a United States District | 16 | | Court rejected several Great Lakes states' request to shut down | 17 | | the Chicago Area Waterway System; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, On February 17, 2011, a measure by the United | 19 | | States House of Representatives to close some of the Chicago | 20 | | area locks failed by a vote of 293 "No" to 139 "Yes" votes; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Closing the locks would overwhelm the Chicago | 2 | | Metropolitan Water Reclamation District tunnel system and | 3 | | cause massive flooding, affecting more than 3 million people | 4 | | and 1.4 million structures in Chicago and 51 surrounding | 5 | | suburbs; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, It is estimated that closing the locks would also | 7 | | increase shipping costs for the Illinois agricultural | 8 | | community by more than a half-billion dollars a year; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, There is no viable alternative to re-routing | 10 | | commerce that travels by barge through the Chicago Area | 11 | | Waterway System; according to the American Waterways | 12 | | Operators, a single barge can carry an amount of liquid cargo, | 13 | | such as asphalt, that would fill 144 semi-trailer trucks or 46 | 14 | | rail cars; the State's rail and highway routes are simply not | 15 | | equipped to make up that difference; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, With one barge's capacity equal to about 60 | 17 | | trucks, the equivalent of about 571,000 truckloads of cargo | 18 | | entered or left the region by barge last year, enough to go | 19 | | from New York to Los Angeles and back again; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, According to United States Department of | 21 | | Transportation modeling, truck transportation in the Chicago | 22 | | area accounts for 60% of the commodity flow; the annual |
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| 1 | | addition of 300,000 trucks would result in an additional 848 of | 2 | | nitrogen oxides alone to the air emissions to the Chicago metro | 3 | | area, which is equivalent to at least one natural gas peaker | 4 | | plant in Illinois or about 20,600 residential natural gas | 5 | | furnaces for the year; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, At a White House "Carp Summit" of the Great Lakes | 7 | | states, the United States Army Corps of Engineers presented a | 8 | | plan to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan, | 9 | | outlining several scenarios including opening the locks less | 10 | | frequently, testing, and more electronic barriers; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The White House is allocating $78.5 million to | 12 | | prevent the Asian carp from gaining access to the Great Lakes; | 13 | | the strategy will call for modifying the lock operations in the | 14 | | Chicago Area Waterway System; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Even the temporary interruption of lock traffic | 16 | | would be absolutely devastating to our local, State, and | 17 | | national economy; therefore, be it
| 18 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 19 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United | 20 | | States Army Corps of Engineers to seek alternatives to the | 21 | | closure of the Chicago Area Waterway System of locks and canals | 22 | | that would not impede commerce; and be it further
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be sent | 2 | | to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the United States | 3 | | Coast Guard, the United States Environmental Protection | 4 | | Agency, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the | 5 | | Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the White House, and | 6 | | the members of the Illinois congressional delegation.
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