We had a wonderful victory celebration this month on Chicago’s Southeast Side with community members and our clients, Alliance of the Southeast and Friends of the Parks. We have officially stopped the U.S. Army Corps’ proposed toxic dredged waste landfill on the Lake Michigan shoreline known as the Confined Disposal Facility.
As a result of community opposition, a lawsuit brought by ELPC, and the Illinois EPA’s denial of required state clean water permits, the Army Corps officially withdrew its flawed plans. Now, we are gearing up for the next steps: the Army Corps must cap and restore the site so the Park District can develop the long-promised lakefront park for all to use and enjoy. The lakefront is for people and parks, not for toxic waste.
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case against Enbridge’s Line 5 oil tunnel project under the Straits of Mackinac, which poses an unacceptable risk to our water, climate, and communities. ELPC and our client Michigan Climate Action Network, along with Earthjustice who represents several Tribal Nations, urged the court to review errors in the pipeline’s approval.
The Iowa Utilities Commission approved a settlement between MidAmerican Energy and environmental groups to authorize 800 megawatts of solar in Iowa. This is the largest solar approval in state history and would quintuple the utility's existing solar resources. MidAmerican expects the project to produce enough energy to power 144,000 homes.
ELPC filed testimony on ComEd’s plan to power data centers. We raised concerns that the plan allows ComEd to unfairly charge customers for data center infrastructure, including for over $200M in transmission lines that serve individual data centers. We argue that requiring data centers to submit clean energy plans would reduce costs and improve reliability for customers.
Fall is here, but it still feels like summer across much of the Midwest and many of us are squeezing in our last warm trips to the lakes. But behind the sun and sand, all is not well. Climate change is accelerating and threatening our freshwater future. Read ELPC’s latest recommendations to protect our beaches, fisheries, and safe drinking water.
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Events
ELPC Thinks: Clean Energy & the Data Center Dilemma
Join ELPC experts Brad Klein and Saad Siddique for a conversation about the Midwest data center landscape, its impact on our clean energy goals, and how to stay on track for a clean energy future. RSVP here.
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.
