Impact

ELPC, along with solar industry allies, led litigation before the Michigan Public Utilities Commission to update how it implements the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). The Commission’s order sets rates for renewable energy developers from Consumers Energy that will likely catalyze a new solar market in the state by setting the rate and contract terms by which these facilities can sell their electricity to Michigan’s utilities. The decision makes Michigan more attractive for renewable energy development at no additional cost to ratepayers.

The Commission’s order will

1. Set new avoided cost rates payable to renewable energy and cogeneration facilities. The new rates are based on a proxy natural gas power plant, rather than a coal plant, and recognize the inherent value of solar energy’s ability to produce power at peak times. The new rates should be sufficient to jump-start a significant amount of new solar development in the state.
2. Establish standard PURPA contracts for smaller facilities that will simplify the process and help with project financing.
3. Clarify that facilities keep the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that they generate.

These new rates will be effective in early December for Consumers Energy and likely in early 2018 for other Michigan utilities.

Download our factsheet to learn more about PURPA and next steps in this case. 

ELPC advocates led the charge to pass the improved Illinois Renewable Energy Standard that will drive 3,000 megawatts of new solar energy projects and 1,350 megawatts of wind power by 2030. That includes new community solar development providing value for all consumers and transforming old industrial brownfields into solar brightfields.

The improved and modernized Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) ensures long-term, reliable funding sources for the purchase of renewable resources into the foreseeable future. It creates a secure, stable budget of more than $200 million annually for the purchase of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) on behalf of Illinois utilities by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA).

In order to jumpstart a diverse Illinois solar market with the widest possible range of benefits, the legislation contains carve-outs within the solar new build requirement for:

1. Adjustable block program that procures RECs from distributed generation and community solar (50%)
2. “utility”-scale projects sized at2 MW or higher (40%)
3. development of urban brownfields into solar brightfields (2%)

There is also long-term funding for low-income solar development.

ELPC and our coalition of solar energy businesses and community groups are now working to make sure that Illinois regulatory agencies implement the new law to achieve its full potential benefits of solar for all consumers and a cleaner environment.

Download our factsheet to learn details about new IL RPS new program areas. 

ELPC was a lead driver in conceiving, developing and launching the nation’s largest Smart Thermostat Initiative, which aims to install one million devices in Northern Illinois homes over the next 5 years. This initiative was the brainchild of ELPC Senior Attorney Rob Kelter, and we worked many utility, manufacturing and advocacy partners to successfully launch it – ComEd, Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas, Northshore Gas, Nest, Ecobee, Honeywell, and Citizens Utility Board.

On Oct. 8th, 2015, ELPC and our partners launched the initiative at a press conference, where we were joined by U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.  ELPC Senior Attorney Rob Kelter, ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner, ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, CUB President David Kolata, and Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) Chair Brian Sheahan joined us for the announcement, which was covered extensively by the press.

Here’s how we did it.

First, ELPC saw a need for innovative energy efficiency measures that went beyond lighting discounts. We asked the Illinois Commerce Commission to order the utilities to conduct studies to see where behavioral habits were wasting the most energy. These “wasted energy studies” found that heating and cooling unoccupied rooms was the number-one way consumers were wasting energy, after lighting waste.

ELPC found that smart thermostats presented the best chance to leverage this energy-saving opportunity, and we began discussions with smart thermostat manufacturers to learn more about the new technology.

Next ELPC began conversations with utilities and regulators to try to find a way to introduce this new technology to customers on a large scale. This was no small request – For one thing, new smart thermostat technology has no official savings value in the state’s Technical Resources Manual, which utilities use to determine energy efficiency investments. Additionally, the state was only in the first year of its three-year energy efficiency portfolio plan, leaving little willingness to introduce a new energy efficiency measure.  As with many new programs, the utilities wanted to start with a small pilot that could lead to a larger launch in 2-3 years.

But ELPC was insistent: A large, innovative commitment to smart thermostats from the utilities would see manufacturers competing in Illinois to promote this technology and would put Illinois on the national stage.  ComEd agreed to take a leadership role, committing to offer a $100 rebate for smart thermostats.  The gas utilities – Nicor, Peoples and NorthShore – also agreed to include smart thermostats in their $20 thermostat rebate program.

ELPC’s efforts led to the current initiative that will one million smart thermostats installed over the next 5 years. In short, ELPC saw an opportunity for increased energy savings beyond lighting; used research to identify opportunities to reduce wasted energy; developed an innovative program that works with manufacturers, implementers, retailers and others; and is helping deploy new technology that embeds energy efficiency in people’s lives.

To learn more about how the rebate program works, please click here.

In summer 2014, Vote Solar, Environmental Law & Policy Center, City of Chicago, Illinois Solar Energy Association and World Wildlife Fund collaborated to offer a solar panel bulk purchase discount to homeowners in the Chicago area. Our original goal for sign-ups was 750 registrations, but we received more than 2,100 registrations — proving that there is a high demand for rooftop solar in a diverse set of communities, from Edison Park to the South Shore and from West Lawn to Edgewater.

In total, the Solar Chicago initiative resulted in:

• 113 new solar projects
• 461 kilowatts of new solar energy capacity
• $600,000+ saved on installations (base price for the area was $4.50/watt before Solar Chicago and just $3.19/watt during Solar Chicago — almost a 30% savings)
• 4.08 kW average project size (largest was 8.64 kW in Maywood and 1.10 kW in Chicago)

See a map of our projects and learn more at www.elpc.org/solarchicago.

ELPC attorneys Brad Klein and Josh Mandelbaum represented a coalition of solar businesses and environmental groups in a case appealing an Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) decision that made solar energy much more expensive and difficult to develop.

The original IUB ruling essentially labeled solar installers “public utilities,” subject to a wide gamut of regulatory requirements, if they financed their solar projects through power-purchase agreements with their clients. The Board’s ruling would have increased solar costs and complexity for Iowa businesses like Dubuque-based Eagle Point Solar, which was represented in our suit.

The favorable 4-2 ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court removed regulatory barriers that Iowa utilities were seeking to impose on solar energy development. The decision will result in reduced up-front costs, opening up the solar market to a larger audience. Furthermore, the court noted that companies like Eagle Point Solar “…further one of the goals of regulated electric companies, namely, the use of energy efficient and renewable energy sources.” The fact that the court agrees with ELPC’s legal analysis means good things for the future of solar in Iowa and across the Midwest.

ELPC’s Iowa team and Iowa solar energy business partners succeeded in tripling Iowa’s solar tax credit program, which we originally passed in 2012. The $2.84 million of solar tax credits so far have leveraged $24 million in total investment and 600 solar projects installed on homes, barns and small businesses. The new legislation triples the annual tax credit availability from $1.5 million to $4.5 million, increases the individual project cap, and allows businesses to claim separate credits for each location.

In Illinois, ELPC led the charge to pass new legislation requiring the Illinois Power Agency to procure $30 million of solar-generated electricity through competitive auction processes. This will create good-paying jobs, expand Illinois’ solar industry and accelerate new rooftop solar installations. A boost for solar power in Illinois.

The long-awaited Farm Bill renewal passed in February includes long-term, mandatory funding for clean energy development programs. The ELPC-supported programs provide grants and loan guarantees to farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses for installing energy efficiency and a wide range of renewable energy technologies. ELPC has long championed these programs that are good for family farmers’ income, good for rural economic development and job creation, and good for the environment. Our policy advocates worked on a bipartisan basis to establish the programs in 2002 and, over the past decade, to improve and preserve the programs through Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

On December 4th, ELPC and allies claimed victory against an effort to re-write Ohio energy law in a way that would have stifled development of renewables, crippled energy efficiency efforts and jacked-up consumer electricity bills. ELPC attorneys and experts analyzed the proposed legislation, testified before the state legislature, and organized a diverse coalition of environmental, business and consumer rights groups across the state to advocate against the legislative changes through write-in campaigns, letters to the editor and other organizing efforts. When it became clear he did not have the votes to advance his bill, Ohio State Senator Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) withdrew SB58.
“Energy efficiency produces real savings for customers,” said ELPC Senior Attorney Rob Kelter. “This bill would have watered down energy efficiency programs and reduced those savings.”
While this hard-fought victory is important, the senator has promised to return in 2014 with a “three-pronged” effort to supplant Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy laws. ELPC and our allies stand ready to continue advocating for strong, effective clean energy laws. Stay tuned.

In 2013, ELPC worked in North Dakota to extend tax exemptions for wind energy generation facilities through 2017 and to promote the state’s new Industrial Commission budget that provides up to $3 million every two years for the Renewable Energy Development Fund. We also worked with partners to increase funding available to biofuel producing facilities.

Dayton Power & Light (DP&L) customers will be able to cut their energy use and save money under a new three-year energy efficiency plan filed October 3rd with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. ELPC, Ohio Environmental Council and other partners worked with DP&L to identify cost-effective ways to strengthen the utility’s plan. ELPC attorneys are deeply engaged in drafting, reviewing and revising the state’s required three-year energy efficiency plans. Input from ELPC and other advocates is instrumental to ensuring that utilities design and implement the most effective programs. Running from 2013-2015, the DP&L plan will cut energy use by more than 469 million kilowatt-hours – enough to power more than 49,000 Ohio homes for a year and save customers $44.5 million over the life of the plan.

ELPC and allies crafted, advanced and secured a strong methodology for determining the “value of solar” for Minnesota’s Value of Solar Tariff (VOST), which aims to credit customers with solar panels for the full value their systems provide to the utility, ratepayers and society. Getting a good VOST methodology approved is a valuable precedent as a counter to utility claims across the country that net-metering for distributed solar is subsidized, and over-pays for solar. This will result in good rates for solar in Minnesota that will likely accelerate the market.

ELPC played a significant role in preserving “environmental costs” as part of the valuation by successfully advocating that the Minnesota Department of Commerce use the Federal Social Cost of Carbon to include the damage costs to society from carbon pollution in the solar tariff. In all, ELPC and our allies successfully incorporated eight separate valuation measures, plus two additional measures, to possibly be implemented in the future to ensure that solar customers fully benefit from their use of renewable energy. Most importantly, the Commission did not weaken the methodology by removing or weakening components, as the utilities urged.

Iowa adopted a law that will give residents and businesses a state tax credit for installing a solar system. The state tax credit piggybacks on the Federal Solar Tax Credit, providing 50% of its value. If a homeowner or business owner installs a $12,000 solar system, the federal tax credit is $3,600 and the Iowa credit will be $1,800 — together reducing the total cost by almost half. ELPC played a key role in designing and advancing the Iowa bill, which was passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor this spring.

Solar energy is a fast-growing economic sector, and ELPC is leading the charge to make the Midwest a solar development center. Creative policy advocacy is driving the market expansion, developing new financing approaches to make solar work in more places and supporting new large-scale solar “brightfields.”

In 2011, ELPC advocacy achieved Illinois’ solar “carve out” in the state’s Renewable Energy Standard that will produce 650 megawatts of installed solar by 2015, and we are removing barriers to distributed solar generation for households and small businesses. In Michigan, Ohio and Iowa, we advanced policies that support distributed solar projects.

ELPC and our coalition partners scored a huge victory after a four-year battle against a proposed coal plant in Rogers City, Michigan. The proposed 600 MW coal plant would have created huge amounts of global warming pollution. After reviewing ELPC’s and other comments, the Michigan Public Service Commission found that the new plant was unnecessary and that increasing energy efficiency and adding renewable energy would be the more cost effective.

In 2010, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law two bills that will create more than 5,000 new jobs and bring more than 3 million kilowatt hours of solar electricity to Illinois consumers by 2014. ELPC was instrumental in crafting and advocating for these bills, which will increase the number of solar installations around the state.

The Solar Ramp Up bill (HB 6202) sets annual targets for the amount of solar power used in Illinois between 2012 and 2015. These targets give industry a green light to invest in solar power and create new jobs, revenue and clean energy here in Illinois.

The Homeowners’ Solar Rights Act (HB 5429) clarifies the rights of homeowners living in homeowner or condominium associations to put solar panels on the property and outlines a process for that to occur.

New residential buildings in Illinois will be more energy efficient, save money on energy bills and avoid pollution because the residential energy efficient building code was adopted in Illinois in 2009. ELPC advocated for this standard, which is making energy efficient “green building” practices standard for every new home and substantial rehab in Illinois. The Energy Efficient Building Code will require all new buildings to conform to the current International Energy Conservation Code.

On May 28, 2009, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved new state rules to simplify the connection of wind turbines, solar panels, and other clean energy systems to the electric grid. On June 9, 2009, the rules were officially approved by the South Dakota legislature. The standards create a consistent statewide process for connecting smaller renewable energy projects and avoid the uncertainty and costs associated with the previous patchwork of regulations.  ELPC helped craft and advance the standards.

ELPC led the charge to improve and expand the innovative clean energy programs in the 2008 federal Farm Bill. Congress quadrupled annual funding for the Rural Energy for America Program and improved delivery of economic and environmental benefits for family farmers and rural small businesses.

ELPC’s seven years of advocacy for clean energy produced a huge global warming solutions success story in 2007, when Illinois enacted the most advanced Renewable Energy Standard and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard in the nation. Illinois utilities are now required to purchase clean renewable energy, ramping up to 25% of electricity supply by 2025. And, they must implement robust energy efficiency programs and investments sufficient to achieve a 2% net annual reduction in overall electricity demand by 2015. The result: Less reliance on coal plants and less global warming pollution. ELPC led the public advocacy, policy analysis and coalition-building to achieve this victory.

In 2004, the Illinois Governor signed into law the Energy Efficient Building Act, which sets minimum energy efficiency standards for all new commercial construction in the state.

ELPC attorneys and policy advocates led the three-year effort to introduce and promote the legislation. As a result, businesses that own, operate or occupy new commercial space meeting these energy efficiency standards can expect to see their energy bills reduced by up to 17%.

Prior to the adoption of this code, Illinois was the largest of only 12 states with no energy code for commercial construction. Approximately 60 million square feet of new commercial building space is constructed in Illinois each year.

For every year, $60-80 million of energy and other cost savings will be realized.

In 2001, ELPC developed a visionary roadmap for the Midwest, Repowering the Midwest: The Clean Energy Development Plan for the Heartland, which would produce new jobs in 10 states, increase energy reliability and reduce pollution from aging coal and nuclear plants.

Based on these findings, Senator Harkin (D-Iowa) and Senator Lugar (R-Indiana), leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee, asked ELPC to testify at the Federal Farm Bill hearings in 2001. Following the presentation, the Committee asked ELPC to help design a new Clean Energy section of the Farm Bill.

A year later, the Clean Energy Title was included in the Farm Bill for the first time, providing more than $200 million for clean energy development in rural communities nationwide over the next five years.

This marked the largest federal clean energy investment in 20 years.

The ELPC Energy Project team’s two years of strategic advocacy and the effective negotiation with Commonwealth Edison created the innovative and landmark new $225 million Illinois Clean Energy Community Trust. This independent foundation and venture capital fund was designed to jump-start the development of energy efficiency and renewable resources in Illinois, which historically relied almost entirely on coal and nuclear plants. This was a great leap forward for clean energy in the Midwest and a national model as well.

The Trust still exists today! Check out the website.

In February 1998, ELPC achieved a major success when Commonwealth Edison Company announced the permanent shutdown of the Zion 1 and Zion 2 nuclear plants, which are located along the shores of Lake Michigan in Northern Illinois.

This was the largest nuclear plant shutdown ever in the United States. It was an historic shift in course for ComEd, the nation’s largest nuclear utility (12 operating plants at the time) and for the nuclear industry as a whole. It reflected a fundamental turning point in energy policy, program and philosophy of one of Illinois’ most powerful businesses. ELPC’s nuclear endgame advocacy over several years was instrumental in influencing the Zion nuclear plant shutdown.

ELPC led the legal intervention to implement Minnesota’s environmental externalities statute that called for environmental values, including carbon dioxide costs, to be included in utilities’ electricity resource planning.

ELPC and the Citizens’ Action Coalition of Indiana, with Ohio environmental groups, scored a major victory by leveraging energy efficiency commitments and more environmentally-sound resource planning practices as a condition of the merger of PSI Energy, Inc. and Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company into the CINergy Corporation.  This was the first major electric utility merger to be proposed following the National Energy Policy Act of 1992.  The energy efficiency groundrules and conditions established through the negotiated settlement we reached with these two large electric utilities set a precedent as other utilities in the Midwest considered mergers.

In December 2013, the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative announced it was ending the development of a new coal plant in the picturesque fishing town of Rogers City, MI.  ELPC led the legal opposition to this unnecessary new 600-megawatt coal plant by engaging in a massive, coordinated statewide effort to document legal deficiencies with 8 coal plants proposed in the state, as well as a more robust legal challenge of the Wolverine plant in particular.

Our allies at the Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan Land Use Institute, Michigan Sierra Club and others were part of the effort before the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), U.S. EPA and state courts.  Together we stopped the Wolverine plant, which would have generated a significant amount of pollution annually: 995 tons of particulates; 1,344 tons of SO2; 2,647 tons of NOx; 46.8 pounds of mercury; 700 pounds of lead; and more than 6 million tons of greenhouse gases including CO2.

“Michigan’s energy future should be driven by clean, renewable sources like wind and solar, and a strong commitment to energy efficiency,” said ELPC Staff Attorney Andrew Armstrong. “We look forward to working with Wolverine to make this future a reality.”

Victory! ELPC, Sustainable Englewood Initiatives, Northwestern University Environmental Law Clinic and our other community partners have successfully negotiated a fair deal to reduce air pollution and increase parkland with the rail yard expansion in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. ELPC successfully negotiated with Norfolk Southern rail road and the City of Chicago for diesel pollution reductions, new green space, sustainability efforts and job training. We commend the City of Chicago for working with the many parties to negotiate a project that brings economic development and jobs to the City while protecting air quality and public health in Englewood and beyond. Learn the specifics of the agreement on ELPC.org.

ELPC served as counsel for several citizen groups in a suit that lead to a settlement, announced Feb. 25th, requiring American Electric Power (AEP) to shutter three coal plants in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio by 2015 as well as bring more clean energy online to meet the region’s electricity needs. The suit included a coalition of 13 citizen groups (11 of which were represented by ELPC), 8 states, and the U.S. EPA.

ELPC’s “clean up or shut down” strategic legal advocacy over a decade with our grassroots community and public health partners resulted in the Fisk and Crawford coal plants shutting down in August 2012. These were the largest, most polluting coal plants operating in city neighborhoods. How did this victory happen? ELPC’s litigation pressure before the Illinois Pollution Control Board; our legislative lobbying and leadership on the Chicago Clean Power Coalition; ground-breaking grassroots organizing; media attention; and the changing Midwest electricity market. The result: Chicago is now a “coal-free” city with less pollution and healthier air.

ELPC is representing the Kentucky Chapter of the Sierra Club in a case challenging permits issues to two proposed gasification plants in Western Kentucky: the “Cash Creek” facility in Henderson County and the “NewGas” facility in Mehlenberg County. On June 22nd, the U.S. EPA agreed with ELPC’s challenge and sent the state-issued permits back to the drawing board. Now Kentucky officials must correct the permits’ initial failures to follow public participation requirements, take all forms of pollution into account, specify pollution controls for coal piles, and other standards.

ELPC worked closely with the Illinois Governor’s office to secure precedent-setting mercury pollution reduction standards that require coal plants to reduce mercury pollution by 90% or more. The standards made Illinois a national leader in mercury reduction and protected our children’s health and environment for generations to come.

For almost 30 years, the Baldwin Coal Plant had been seriously polluting the air. Like many plants in the area, Baldwin was “grandfathered” from current pollution standards under the assumption that the plant would shut down soon after the 1977 Clean Air Act amendments passed.

Twenty-two years later, with Baldwin still in operation, the U.S. EPA filed a lawsuit stating that the plant had been modified without installing necessary pollution controls, violating the Clean Air Act. When the Bush Administration took office, the U.S. EPA dropped key arguments in its case. ELPC then filed a motion to intervene, making the legal arguments the U.S. EPA was no longer willing to make.

In 2005, ELPC settled the lawsuit that forced the company to install long-overdue pollution controls and deposit an additional $15 million into a fund for innovative environmental projects.

ELPC and our allies at the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) won a major case in Iowa District Court that compels the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to enforce the state’s important clean water “anti-degradation” standards. This important, but often ignored, part of the Clean Water Act is designed to keep unnecessary pollution out of clean waterways. Learn how we won and why it’s important.

ELPC and IEC have worked together for many years to design, defend and enforce these essential clean water standards:

• 2010: Iowa adopts strong anti-degradation standards that ELPC helped design and advance through state environmental agencies.

• 2011: Judge rules in favor of ELPC and IEC that the Iowa Farm Bureau’s subpoenas of IEC’s private communications were intrusive. The subpoenas were filed as part of the Bureau’s legal challenge against the anti-degradation standards.

• 2012: Judge throws out the Iowa Farm Bureau’s lawsuit challenging the standards, once again ruling in favor of ELPC and IEC.

• 2014: ELPC and IEC win again before the Iowa Supreme Court, which upholds the rulemaking process that established the anti-degradation standards.

• 2016 – Today: Iowa District Court rules in favor of ELPC and IEC, saying the Iowa DNR did not properly enforce the anti-degradation standards in a permit it granted to the City of Clarion for a wastewater treatment plant. The City of Clarion did not properly consider alternatives that would reduce pollution in a practical and affordable manner.

Bottom line: The law is on our side when it comes to clean water, and the courts have consistently sent a message to polluters and regulators that you can’t skirt environmental considerations.

ELPC and our colleagues are working with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and others to stop the coal-burning SS Badger, a Lake-Michigan ferry boat, from dumping about 1 million pounds of toxic
coal ash into Lake Michigan each year. In 2013, the SS Badger’s owner agreed with the US EPA to reduce coal ash dumping in 2014 and completely stop by 2015.

The SS Badger’s owner now claims to have installed digital combustion controls that lower fuel consumption, and, next summer, will store the coal ash on board. ELPC will work to ensure that the SS Badger stops dumping into the Great Lakes.

In 2010, ELPC and our allies at the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) celebrated Iowa’s adoption of strong “anti-degradation” standards – an important but often ignored part of the Clean Water Act designed to keep unnecessary pollution out of clean waterways. Since then, naysayers have been challenging this important standard and even issuing intrusive subpoenas to intimidate local environmentalists. The Iowa Supreme Court had the final say when it upheld the fair and open rule-making process that established Iowa’s common-sense water protection standards.

ELPC and our partners with the Mississippi River Collaborative secured a major legal and policy victory on September 23rd, when the U.S. District Court in Eastern Louisiana ordered the U.S. EPA to determine within 6 months whether to set new limits on nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. For years the EPA has avoided setting quantifiable standards for this harmful pollution, which fuels toxic algae blooms throughout the country and contributes to the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico and other waterways. Our lawsuit charged that the EPA’s refusal to respond to ELPC’s and the Collaborative’s 2008 petition regarding this issue was unlawful. The court’s ruling forces the Agency’s hand and requires a response. Now ELPC and our colleagues at the Mississippi River Collaborative are hopeful this will break decades of inaction from the federal government on the issue of harmful runoff pollution.

ELPC brought a clean water enforcement case against the State of Indiana regarding one of the largest and most unregulated coal mines in the nation. In early September, a judge ruled in favor of ELPC and our clients at the Hoosier Environmental Council and the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, saying that the State of Indiana failed to comply with the Clean Water Act by allowing the Bear Run coal mine in Sullivan County to discharge toxic water pollution without first determining that local waterways would not be degraded. Indiana had issued a “general permit” – a one-size-fits-all approach designed to cover all coal mines, regardless of size, location or type – rather than an “individual permit” that could address unique factors such as proximity to waterways and how those waterways are used. Now the permit goes back to the drawing board at the state’s environmental agency. Stay tuned.

Fracking is coming to Illinois, and ELPC has been working with allies, industry, legislators and the State of Illinois to ensure it can only be done with very strong environmental and public health protections. The result, released Feb. 21st, is one of the most protective bills on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the nation. The proposed law contains several precedent-setting provisions to protect water quality and the public’s right to know.

For years, Chicagoans have sadly tolerated their namesake river being unsafe and unhealthy for recreation and enjoyment. Chicago was one of the few major cities in which wastewater was not disinfected prior to discharge into the river. ELPC’s and our colleagues’ persistent and effective advocacy over the past six years succeeded in 2011. The U.S. EPA and the Illinois Pollution Control Board directed the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to install modern pollution control equipment to disinfect wastewater, and the District is complying. Twenty years from now, Chicagoans enjoying the Chicago River in their communities will look back, shake their heads and ask why it took so long to clean up our river. 2011 will be seen as the turning point. ELPC and our colleagues at Friends of the Chicago River, Openlands, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club Illinois and Alliance for the Great Lakes are very proud of this achievement.

Wisconsin’s adoption of phosphorus pollution reduction standards will limit the amount of phosphorus pollution from the largest sources: farms, factories and sewage treatment plants. The new pollution reduction standards will help improve the quality of Wisconsin’s waterways, nearly half of which are listed as “impaired” due to toxic, blue-green algae. ELPC is working to enforce these standards and replicate similar rules throughout the region.

ELPC’s legal advocacy persuaded the Federal District Court to issue a decision requiring the National Park Service to reconsider its sign-off for a large bridge that would have defaced a pristine bluff along the Lower St. Croix River on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. The Park Service changed its position, and transportation officials must now address alternatives that better protect this Wild and Scenic River.

However, in 2012, Congress and the President signed a bill allowing construction of the Stillwater Bridge after all. We are discussing potential next steps with our local allies.

Iowa adopted a strong “anti-degradation” standard, which is an essential but often under-utilized part of the Clean Water Act designed to keep clean waters from becoming degraded. ELPC has been working on administrative law hearings before state pollution boards and environmental agencies to get strong, effective anti-deg policies in place throughout the region.

ELPC attorneys designed state-based policies and worked to implement and enforce the key Clean Water Act “anti-degradation” standard to keep clean waters clean. ELPC advocated Illinois’ model anti-deg standard and then successfully defending its implementation by winning an appeal before the Illinois Appellate Court to protect Hickory Creek in the Chicago suburbs against more pollution.

When Kentucky issued very weak anti-deg standards allowing too many pollution exemptions, ELPC appealed them to Federal Court. In 2008, we won a precedent-setting decision, which is sending Kentucky back to the drawing table to design and adopt strong clean water protections.

ELPC designed and negotiated a new Illinois law requiring manufacturers to collect and recycle or reuse electronic waste. Keeping toxic-laden e-waste out of landfills prevents pollution of drinking water supplies and enables people to safely recycle old computers, printers and TVs piling up in closets and basements. Illinois’ new standards create a replicable, model partnership between manufacturers and recyclers.

When BP was granted a permit to discharge more ammonia and other pollutants into Lake Michigan due to its oil refinery expansion in Northwest Indiana, the public was outraged — and ELPC sprung into action. We worked behind the scenes with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and other public officials, environmental group colleague and technical experts to force BP to reverse course. BP has now committed to no net increases in water pollution.

After 10 years of persistent and effective legal advocacy, ELPC stopped a destructive new dam on Sugar Creek in Marion, Illinois. The City of Marion agreed to connect to an existing pipeline to obtain water supplies – exactly the alternative that ELPC urged. This avoided the destruction of 6.2 miles of one of the last free-flowing streams in Illinois.

ELPC attorneys helped stop an ill-conceived 1,000-slip boat marina in Lake Calumet, which was then set to be restored to an ecological gem and wildlife habitat near the Illinois-Indiana border. ELPC’s legal intervention in Illinois led to the best “anti-degradation” standards in the country, which will lessen pollution and help keep the cleanest rivers clean.

ELPC co-founded and led the market-driven Chicagoland Recycling Paper Coalition with the Bank of America, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, City of Chicago, Commonwealth Edison and RR Donnelley & Sons Co.

The proposed Illiana Tollway – a $1.5 billion, 47-mile tollway from Interstate 55 near Wilmington, Ill., to Interstate 65, near Lowell, Ind. – would have wasted taxpayer money ($1.1 billion in subsidies over 35 years!), conflicted with long-term regional development plans, and threatened the globally significant wildlife habitats in the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. During 2014 and 2015, ELPC engaged in a multi-pronged legislative, legal and media campaign with our allies to stop the boondoggle expressway. On June 2, 2015, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Department of Transportation removed the proposed tollway project from its multi-year transportation plans and announced that the state would begin the process of suspending all existing project contracts and procurements. This was a big victory for Illinois’ fiscal good sense and Illinois’ environment.

On March 9, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Department of Transportation, ELPC and our allies, affirming Amtrak’s power to create on-time performance standards.

ELPC filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief on behalf of overselves, the National Association of Railroad Passengers, All Aboard Ohio and Virginians for High-Speed Rail in 2014, and parts of our argument were referenced in the Court’s decision. At issue was whether Amtrak was a private company, as a freight rail industry group claimed, or a government entity with the authority to impose standards. We argued that Amtrak is, in fact, an arm of the federal government that relieves freight railroads of their pre-existing obligation to provide interstate passenger service. The United States Supreme Court agreed.

Here’s why this matters: Data shows that more trains run on time when Amtrak has the power to create on-time performance standards; when that power is taken away, performance plummets. In 2012, for example, Amtrak achieved a nationwide on-time performance rate of 83%, but that fell to 42% when the standards were invalidated by the D.C. Court of Appeals. This week’s United States Supreme Court decision reverses that holding and reaffirms Amtrak’s authority to set these crucial standards.

Kudos to ELPC Deputy Director Kevin Brubaker and ELPC Federal Legislative Director Karen Torrent, who are working on this important issue to help reduce delays on Amtrak’s passenger rail corridors. The highest court in the land has spoken, and we hope that freight railroads will move forward as a partner to improve passenger rail service across America.

Learn more from our press release.

The costly and environmentally destructive Route 53 tollway expansion proposal was tabled following more than a year of ELPC’s dedicated advocacy in Lake County, Illinois. As ELPC advocates pointed out to decision-makers, this massive 25-mile tollroad expansion proposal was fraught with fundamental problems:

First, it would have cost billions. Early projections estimated a $1.5 billion price tag — but after years of delay, the real price would have been much higher. To afford it, the state would have had to raise tolls significantly. Even the Toll Highway Authority had eliminated the expansion proposal from its 10-year plan.

Second, it would not have been effective in alleviating traffic congestion. The proposal called for a north-south road to eliminate congestion on an east-west street — that just didn’t make sense.

Third, better alternatives existed. The success of Metra’s then-new North Central line demonstrated that cheaper, better transportation alternatives can work well. Improved passenger rail service, arterial and local road improvements, and transit-oriented development strategies can effectively reduce congestion and promote mobility.

Fourth, the expansion would have devastating effects on the environment. If built, the new tollroad would have slashed through ecologically rich wetlands, which could lead to flooding issues; threatened key species habitat in Lake County; and caused more air pollution.

ELPC and our network of allies ande-advocates across Indiana successfully pressed state leaders to approve Indiana’s first-ever state investment in passenger rail. Over a dozen other states have been investing in their in-state service for years, but Indiana did not take up the issue until new federal laws required in-state routes to be supported only by in-state funds. Local communities along the state’s Hoosier State line, from Indianapolis to Chicago, will help keep the line running. The next step is to identify targeted investments to bring high-performance rail to the corridor and additional economic benefit to Indiana’s communities.

ELPC and our clients/colleagues achieved a huge victory on August 23rd. We stopped the ill-advised outlying “Prairie Parkway” highway that would have exacerbated sprawl and gobbled up thousands of acres of open space and farmland in Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties. Instead, we achieved a better alternative transportation solution that will improve existing roadways (IL-47), protect sensitive environmental areas, create needed jobs and preserve community values. This has been a successful, innovative advocacy campaign combining ELPC’s effective litigation and policy advocacy with strong grassroots organizing by the “47 Plus Coalition,” including Citizens Against the Sprawlway, Friends of the Fox River, Openlands, Sierra Club and many others.

ELPC has more than a decade of experience working to make environmental, economic and policy case for a Midwest High-Speed Rail Network. On July 14th, that Network reached another major milestone: the nation’s first high-speed rail train station to open under the landmark 2009 stimulus funding. Coupled with state and local funds, the $45.9 million transportation center doubles as the Town Hall for Normal, Ill., and includes a restaurant, retail space, community room and parking garage. In part as a result of the new station, the “New Normal” is brimming with economic activity – more than $235 million in private investment has led to a children’s museum, two hotels, a new electric vehicle infrastructure and a bustling retail district in recent years. At the opening day dedication, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood praised the project as a testament to the success of stimulus.

ELPC’s long-time leadership on high-speed rail led to dramatic breakthroughs in 2009. President Obama identified high-speed rail as his #1 transportation priority and, with Congress, made a landmark $13 billion “downpayment” to jump-start high-speed rail development. This success results, in part, from years of ELPC’s work to build the right coalitions, make the right policy-economic-environmental case, and engage-inform-persuade the right leaders.

A modern, fast, comfortable and convenient Midwest higher-speed rail system would provide 60 million people in 8 states with a good new alternative to planes and cars — increasing mobility, reducing pollution, creating jobs and spurring economic development.

ELPC is working hard to ensure that this federal funding down payment is coupled with both a smart, coordinated regional plan, as well as complementary state investments. We’ve achieved progress on both fronts.

ELPC achieved a stunning success in our work to challenge sprawl-inducing outlying tollroads in Northeastern Illinois when the Federal District Court issued a landmark opinion declaring that the federal and state transportation agencies violated the National Environmental Policies Act (NEPA) by failing to rigorously consider alternatives to the proposed I-355 tollroad extension in Will County, Ill.

Considering better alternatives is an essential step for protecting natural resources and environmental quality as well as for mitigating the social and economic disinvestment to Chicago and the inner-ring suburbs. The court’s decision provided a strong new legal precedent that has been used by environmental advocates in the Great lakes states and around the country.

The Federal District Court ruled in favor of ELPC, our clients, and the U.S. Forest Service to uphold restrictions on the use of loud and disruptive gas-powered motorboats in the beautiful interconnected lakes of the Sylvania Wilderness Area, which includes 18,000+ acres of old-growth trees in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula near the Wisconsin border.

Federal District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar’s decision enables the U.S. Forest Service to enforce the laws to protect the Sylvania Wilderness as place to canoe, hike, camp and enjoy the quiet of the outdoors. The Court held that restrictions on large gas-powered motorboats “are precisely the type of regulation that Michigan courts have upheld as reasonable” and are rationally connected to achieving the goal of preserving Sylvania’s wilderness character.

ELPC attorneys represented Sylvania Wilderness Cabins, Friends of Sylvania, and the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition in this case. ELPC’s legal victory will help preserve pristine water quality, reduce the spread of damaging invasive aquatic plant species, and preserve the wonderful quiet and scenic enjoyment of this special natural place. This is an important court victory that sets a precedent for protecting the Sylvania Wilderness Area and other protected National Lakeshores and Wilderness Areas around the Great Lakes and Midwest.

Sylvania is a beautiful 18,327-acre wilderness area with quiet connected lakes and old-growth trees on the Wisconsin-Michigan border. ELPC attorneys, representing Friends of Sylvania, Sylvania Wilderness Cabins, and the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition won a major victory in federal district court to finally limit “grandfathered” polluting and noisy gas-powered motorboat use along the Sylvania Wilderness. This ELPC litigation victory is a key precedent for protecting our Wilderness Areas, National Forests, and National Lakeshores in the North Woods and Upper Great Lakes. We’re protecting the Sylvania Wilderness against invasive species and preserving wilderness tranquility for people to enjoy in this special place.

Saugatuck residents, conservation, historical and civic organizations are declaring victory after Chief Judge Paul Maloney of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan declared illegal a proposed consent decree between developer Aubrey McClendon’s Singapore Dunes L.L.C. and the Saugatuck Township Board that would have allowed the developer to build a hotel, marina and condominiums on duneland on the shore of Lake Michigan.

The development is contrary to Saugatuck Township’s current zoning laws. McClendon sued Saugatuck Township over the zoning laws in federal court.  On November 1st, the Court ruled that the proposed consent decree violated state law because it would have prevented the Township Board from ever modifying the zoning of McClendon’s property and created a remedy that exceeded the procedural harms alleged by the developer.

The Court’s decision holds that the proposed consent decree is illegal and “impermissibly ties the hands of future township boards.” The Township and McClendon can renegotiate, but any new settlement cannot sign away the ability of future Township Boards to zone and protect land within the community.

“Judge Maloney’s decision helps restore faith in the fairness of ‘the system’,” said Marcia Perry, Vice President of the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance (SDCA).  “The hundreds of people who protested this unfair proposed consent agreement are justified by the Judge’s ruling.”

“This is a huge victory for the Saugatuck people and businesses who care about protecting our ‘pure Michigan’ landscape,” said SDCA President David Swan. “The Court’s decision affirms that the rule of law can trump the influence of a billionaire’s money and political clout.”

“As a resident of Saugatuck Township for over 35 years, I’m pleased to see that the Court has upheld our Township’s authority to make land use decisions,” said Sandra Randolph, Saugatuck Township resident and business owner. “I hope this will lead to a fair process that will better serve our community going forward.”

“The National Trust for Historic Preservation is delighted that Judge Maloney’s action has given the community another chance to protect the historic character and pristine natural beauty of the Saugatuck Dunes coastal area,” said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “We also applaud the Court’s decision to require a public hearing prior to its review of any future consent decree incorporating development proposals for this fragile area. We continue to believe that over-scaled development would inflict irreparable harm on the Saugatuck Dunes coastal area and we will continue to work to encourage local community officials and the developer to find a solution that protects this unique and historic place.”

“The Court decided that the local government’s and Saugatuck communities’ authority to make land use and planning decisions can’t be bartered away,” said Howard Learner, Executive Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center and lead counsel for the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance. “This is an important legal precedent for smart land use in the Saugatuck communities and across Western Michigan.”

In 2004, ELPC and the Michigan Land Use Institute achieved a great victory when the Grand Traverse County Road Commission agreed not to pursue its plan to build a 4-5-land road and bridge project through the pristine Boardman River Valley near Traverse City.

The Hartman-Hammond Bridge would have harmed the Boardman River, a blue-ribbon trout stream, and triggered sprawl in the largely undeveloped Boardman River Valley. We proposed a “Smart Roads” alternative to more effectively address traffic congestion in the area, save money and cause less harm to the environment.

ELPC provided legal analysis to the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that played a key role in convincing both federal agencies and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to weigh in against the Hartman-Hammond plan.

The Road Commission agreed to stop plans for the project, and the Boardman River was preserved indefinitely.

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Northern Wisconsin is one of the “10 most endangered national forests.” At the cutting rate employed over the last 10 years, every single loggable acre would be cut in 45 years.

In 2003, ELPC was asked for help in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service to stop accelerated logging in the Chequamegon-Nicolet. The Forest Service had authorized six timber sales in 2003. ELPC appealed three of the six sales. In a stunning victory, a federal judge ruled that the Forest Service failed to consider the cumulative impacts of all current timber sales when it approved each of the three timber sales. The Court further granted injunctions halting the timber sales.

In total, ELPC’s emergency legal work protected 22,000 acres of forestland in this national treasure.

Bell Smith Springs is a beautiful part of the Shawnee National Forest, where streams have carved out interesting rock formations, and natural springs form large pools of pristine water.

The U.S. Forest Service acquired the Bell Smith Springs area in the 1930s. At that time, the Forest Service planted these fields with short-leaf pine trees to prevent erosion and protect high-quality streams in the area. The Forest Service proposed in 1999 to log the pines to speed the conversion process to hard woods. However, the logging would create the same soil erosion risks that the pines were intended to prevent.

When the Forest Service moved to issue logging permits, ELPC rushed to the Federal Courthouse seeking an emergency injunction on behalf of local activists. The Federal District Court issued an opinion ruling in our favor and effectively halted any logging until the Forest Service conducted a thorough environmental analysis.

Stopping the proposed “prison on the prairie” at the Savanna Army Depot was one of the biggest wins in a long time for Illinois conservationists. The Savanna Army Depot sits on the shores of the Mississippi River in Northwestern Illinois, and it had been used to store ammunition and old armaments since World War I. Only a small portion of the 10,000 acres had actually been used; most of it was open sand prairie — home to endangered plants and species — that had remained relatively untouched.

When Congress decided to close this Army base, the State of Illinois and local officials negotiated with the U.S. Department of Army and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve approximately 8,000 acres as conservation areas. But then the Local Redevelopment Authority in Northwestern Illinois negotiated with the Illinois Department of Conservation to site a new maximum-security prison on the Depot that would fragment the sand prairie eco-system.

The Friends of the Depot, a local conservation group, The Nature Conservancy, and others came to ELPC asking for our help to stop the “prison on the prairie” and create pressure for an alternative prison site.

In a remarkable blitzkrieg over a two-month period. ELPC’s legal, media and strategic capabilities were brought to bear in effective combination with very strong local organizing work, and the coordinated and cooperative efforts of The Nature Conservancy, Friends of the Depot and others.

The result: In July 1998, Governor Edgar pulled the plug on the “prison on the prairie” and announced that he would support its relocation to an alternative site several miles away that the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections characterizes as the best site for a prison he had ever seen. The conservation values were protected, and the prison’s economic development benefits were achieved.