Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Energy and the Environment
Durbin, Duckworth Urge EPA To Hold Watco Transloading Accountable For Dangerous Manganese Emission
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to hold Watco Transloading on Chicago's Southeast Side accountable for violating federal safety standards due to its high levels of manganese emissions - a known neurotoxin. The Senators, in a letter to the EPA, raised concerns about the EPA's failure to promptly hold companies accountable for violations of the Clean Air Act, and highlighted the EPA's ability to for… Continue Reading
01.30.19
Durbin, Duckworth, Lipinski, Foster, Schneider, Casten Meet With Sterigenics, Press For Answers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with U.S. Representatives Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), and Sean Casten (D-IL-06) today met with Michael Petras, CEO of Sotera Health, parent company of Willowbrook, Illinois-based Sterigneics, Inc, and Sterigenics President Phil MacNabb, to discuss high carcinogenic ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at the facility. The members pressed the company representatives on what they… Continue Reading
12.20.18
Illinois Congressional Delegation Supports Disaster Assistance For Taylorville Tornado Recovery
WASHINGTON - The entire Illinois Congressional Delegation today sent a letter of support for Governor Bruce Rauner's request for a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Declaration for Christian County, Illinois, as a result of a tornado that touched down on December 1, 2018. The damage assessment conducted this month by the SBA found that 33 homes and one business incurred major damage as a result of the tornado in Christian County. "The economic impact on the community as a result… Continue Reading
12.20.18
Durbin Urges Illinois Farmers To Take Steps To Curb Impacts Of Climate Change
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) sent letters today to the Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Soybean Association, and Illinois Corn Growers Association urging each group to review the Fourth National Climate Assessment, and heed the warnings contained in the report about the impacts climate change will have on farming in Illinois. Durbin urged the farmers to take steps outlined in the report to help mitigate the effects of shifting climate and weather patterns - such as more frequent ex… Continue Reading
12.14.18
Durbin, Duckworth To EPA: Don't Weaken Coal Ash Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the agency to not weaken the federal regulation for the safe disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR) or "coal ash", which protects drinking water, human health, and the environment. The 2015 rule established by the EPA sets minimum federal standards for coal ash disposal. Industry reports required under the 2015 rule show that coal ash disposa… Continue Reading
12.12.18
Durbin, Duckworth, Kelly Statement On Report Of Additional Manganese Source In Southeast Chicago
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL-02) today released the following statements after a Chicago Tribune report found that air monitors recorded dangerous levels of brain-damaging manganese at Watco Transloading on Chicago's Southeast Side. The members raised concerns about the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) failure to consistently hold companies accountable for violations of the Clean Air Act, and highlight… Continue Reading
11.29.18
Durbin, Schneider, Duckworth, Lipinski, Foster Introduce Bill To Require EPA To Revise Standards For Ethylene Oxide Emissions
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), along with Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Representatives Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03) and Bill Foster (D-IL-11), today introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions standards for medical sterilization and chemical facilities, which have been the source of harmful emissions in Illinois. The bill also requires the EPA to notif… Continue Reading
11.26.18
Durbin & Senators Call On HUD To Improve Oversight Of Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with nine of his Senate colleagues, today sent a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urging the agency to immediately improve its oversight of lead-based paint hazards in federally-assisted housing to ensure that families and children are protected from exposure to lead. The letter comes on the heels of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommending that HUD take immediate action to improve all of… Continue Reading
11.19.18
Durbin, Duckworth Sign Bicameral Amicus Brief To Protect National Monuments Against Unconstitutional Attacks By Trump Administration
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), U.S. Representative Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), 25 Senators, and 92 House members, submitted an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs in five cases before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that challenge the Trump Administration's decision to significantly diminish the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in southern Utah. In the bri… Continue Reading
11.15.18
Durbin, Duckworth, Foster, Schneider Meet With Acting EPA Administrator, Call For Action On Cancer-Causing Pollution In Lake And DuPage Counties
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with U.S. Representatives Bill Foster (D-IL-11) and Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), today met with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler to discuss cancer risks caused by ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at Sterigenics Inc. in DuPage County, Illinois and Medline Industries, Inc., and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc., in Lake County, Illinois. The members urged Acting Administrator … Continue Reading
11.14.18
Durbin Applauds Senate Passage Of Bill To Improve Oil Spill Response In Great Lakes
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today applauded passage of a bill that directs the Coast Guard to establish a Center of Expertise for Great Lakes Oil Spill Research and Response, which will monitor, assess, and train first responders on freshwater oil spill response in the Great Lakes. The provision was included in the Coast Guard Reauthorization bill, which passed the Senate today. "Protecting the Great Lakes is critically important to Illinois' future, and this bill will help ens… Continue Reading
11.09.18
Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Call On Trump Adminstration To Improve Its Monitoring Of Cancer-Causing Pollution In Lake County
CHICAGO - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today, in a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), requested it perform updated and current air sampling and modeling studies to determine the cancer risks in Lake County, Illinois, caused by ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at Medline Industries, Inc. and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. The EPA has not conducted air emissions quality tests for these two facil… Continue Reading
11.07.18
Durbin Calls For Investigation Into Trump Administration's Delay Of Notifying Lake County Residents About Cancer-Causing Pollution
CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a letter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), called for an investigation into whether EPA followed proper protocols when critical health information about cancer-causing ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at Medline Industries, Inc. and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. was withheld from Lake County, Illinois residents. Last week, the Chicago Tribune published a story that details how the… Continue Reading
11.02.18
Durbin Statement On Rauner & Trump Administrations' Delay Of Notifying Lake County Residents About Cancer-Causing Pollution
CHAMPAIGN - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Chicago Tribune published a story that details how two facilities in Lake County, Illinois - Medline Industries, Inc. in Waukegan and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. in Gurnee - appear to emit cancer-causing emissions, yet the Rauner Administration, along with the Trump Administration, have delayed giving this pertinent information to Lake County residents: This is simply outrageous. Day after day, t… Continue Reading
11.01.18
Durbin, Duckworth, foster Request EPA Investigation Into Rauner And Trump Administrations' Delay Of Notifying Public About Sterigenics Cancer Risk
CHICAGO - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Bill Foster (D-IL-11) today requested the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigate if EPA complied with all statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements and protocols when it intentionally withheld critical health information from the public about carcinogenic air pollution from the Sterigenics facility in DuPage County, Illinois. Their reque… Continue Reading
10.16.18
Durbin Presses EPA To Limit Harmful Pollution From Meat-Processing Plants
SPRINGFIELD - Following recent reports by the Environmental Integrity Project and the Chicago Tribune that show that a JBS-owned pork-processing plant in Beardstown, Illinois, released 1,849 pounds of nitrogen a day, on average, into a tributary to the Illinois River, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today pressed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to thoroughly review its Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Meat and Poultry Products and set new, stricter standards t… Continue Reading
10.15.18
Durbin Statement On JBS Pork-Processing Plant Pollution In Beardstown
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement regarding a Chicago Tribune story that reported a Beardstown, Illinois pork-processing plant, owned by JBS, discharged more nitrogen from animal waste into Illinois waterways than any other slaughterhouse in the country last year: The details outlined in the Chicago Tribune story aren't the first reports we've read on the reckless polluting occurring from this particular plant. Recent reports have stated that… Continue Reading
10.11.18
Durbin Calls On President Trump And Republicans To Get Tough On Combating Climate Change
WASHINGTON - Following the release of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (UN IPCC) report on Monday, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on President Trump and Congressional Republicans to take immediate action to limit human-induced global warming. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also urged President Trump to rethink his decision to leave the Paris Climate Agreement. "Last year, President Trump decided that the United States would step away from th… Continue Reading
06.28.18
Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Urge U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers To Prevent Foxconn Flooding Impact
WASHINGTON - While President Donald Trump breaks ground at the Foxconn project in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to increase their oversight of the Foxconn project to prevent increased flooding in Lake County, Illinois. The State of Wisconsin has allowed Foxconn to fill in up to 26 acres of wetlands, which would lead to a higher volume of… Continue Reading
06.26.18
Senate Passes Durbin Amendment Ensuring Full Funding For La Grange Lock & Dam In Senate Energy & Water Appropriations Bill
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that full funding will be available for the much-needed rehab of Illinois' La Grange Lock & Dam in Versailles, Illinois. Durbin cosponsored a bipartisan amendment to the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 funding bill with Senator John Thune (R-SD), which will free up enough funding in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) to ensure La Grange receives the $28.8 million in funding needed to mo… Continue Reading