Last week, ELPC attorneys went to court to protect Lake Michigan and shoreline communities. On behalf of the Alliance of the Southeast and Friends of the Parks, we are fighting to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ misguided plan to build a 25ft-high toxic dredged waste dump on Chicago’s Southeast Side. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has also filed a brief in opposition to the dump.
The 45-acre lakefront site was supposed to become a public park years ago, in an environmental justice community that has long been overburdened by toxic pollution. It is time to keep that promise for local residents and all Chicagoans to access and enjoy the lakefront—instead of continuing to treat this community as a dumping ground.
ELPC and the Iowa Environmental Council support the Iowa Utilities Commission’s proposal to rescind its Renewable Energy Verification rules. The rules fail to hold utilities accountable for deceptive practices. For example, MidAmerican Energy has leveraged the outdated rules to claim it delivered 100% renewable energy while continuing to operate one of the largest coal fleets in the country.
America’s National Forests are home to an incredible biodiversity of plant and animal species and deserve protection. Unfortunately, the U.S. Forest Service’s new draft Environmental Impact Statement to amend the National Old Growth Plan does not meaningfully protect mature and old-growth forests. ELPC is working with a national coalition to strengthen the amendment and protect our old trees.
Wilderness designation provides the strongest protection to our country’s most precious natural places. That includes 52 areas in the Midwest and Great Plains, such as the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest and Garden of the Gods Wilderness Area in Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest. ELPC is working across the Midwest to expand Wilderness, including with a Michigan coalition to expand protections in the Upper Peninsula, creating a nearly contiguous Wilderness area of over 50,000 acres.
As students return to school, many will notice a new addition to their daily routines: electric school buses. These emission-free vehicles offer a cleaner, quieter, and more sustainable mode of transportation. Under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Clean School Bus Program, 200 Midwest school districts were awarded funding for 1,435 electric school buses.
Founded in 1993, the Environmental Law & Policy Center is the Midwest's leading environmental legal advocacy organization. We advocate, innovate, and litigate to protect the Midwest's environment from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains.
