From Back of the Pack to Head of the Class
The major new clean energy programs signed into law today by Governor Blagojevich are two major steps forward toward a cleaner, safer, and more affordable energy future for Illinois. After decades of dealing with the pollution and cost of relying solely on dirty coal and nuclear power, Illinois is now a national leader in promoting clean, renewable energy, and in helping consumer and businesses cut their electric bills by using less power.
The new requirement that 25% of Illinois’ electricity will come from renewable sources by the year 2025 will create new jobs in a pollution-free power industry. At the same time, utilities, the State of Illinois, and local governments will begin major new programs to reduce existing power use. By 2015, these programs are to cut existing power use 2% below today's levels. These conservation programs will deliver savings each and every month as our homes and businesses use less power. They will also create high-paying jobs in a clean, new energy economy.
By using less power overall, and by getting more and more of it from pollution-free sources like wind, Illinois is also taking two big steps to reducing our contribution to global warming. Scientists tell us that we need to reduce pollution by 80% to solve global warming, and that energy efficiency and renewable energy are the two most effective strategies for reaching these goals.
Historically, Illinois has lagged behind in implementing smart energy policies. Today, we move from the back of the pack to the head of the class in implementing smart energy policies for the future. This is one area where our leaders have agreed on major changes that are the right choices for Illiniosans today, and for our future.
Originally posted at IllinoisSierraClub
26 comments:
And I have a bridge to sell you over the Mississippi.
I can guarantee that this is going to cost the citizens of Illinois a lot of mone as the target dates approach.
The will further impoverish the taxpayers by spending general fund dollars on expensive energy reduction' plans which will never reach their goals.
Bah... the governor's robbery from the taxpayer pocketbook continue
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, especially under the leadership of Commissioner Frank Avila, has been at the forefront of Environmental issues. There are some bold plans and proposals and some other things already underway.
The first group and elected official to jump on BP-Amoco after Congressman Kirk was Commissioner Avila and the MWRD albeit with less power than those that came later but it is worth noting the sequence and presence of support.
The District has been looking to do:
Green roofs
and Hybrid cars
as some small internal steps.
Commissioner Avila has done TV shows that can be found on Google Video and chairs the committee on pharmaceuticals in the water which are affecting the DNA of fish and wildlife.
Check out the numerous TV shows on the internet for details. These include Federal funding issues, the Chicago River, Water Quality and others.
Commissioner Avila is a practicing organic, raw, vegan (with occassional preferably hormone free meat or fish, homerange) eater who has done TV shows on better school lunches and the importance of locally produced food for our local environment and economy. The MWRD is now leasing land for local organic farming. He has been pushing for more options for employees in vegetarian, vegan, organic and locally produced food for better health, prevention and environmental improvement.
There is some real leadership here, some things already done, and some strong proposals.
This is unprecedented until the last 5 years at the MWRD and unprecedented by most other agencies and elected officials.
GS,
What on earth are you talking about? The MWRD just poured 224 Million Gallons of Sewage into Lake Michigan.
http://www.cdobs.com/local-media-feeds/raw-sewage-in-lake-1/
Commisioner Avila can eat all the vegan food he likes, but the only thing green is going to be Lake Michigan after all the human waste rots and floats to the top of the lake.
JBP
Was the release in the Lake necessary? What were the options and alternatives?
JB--since you are into architecture have you seen the website of the:
Lion and the Cardinal?
a post a month or so ago on Chicago and architecture (assuming you are a more traditional Catholic) but on Masonic architectural influences in Chicago
I have to agree with you on Wilmette--very sad.
I think you may have the release into Lake Michigan wrong at least vis a vis the necessity and options.
By 2015, these programs are to cut existing power use 2% below today's levels. These conservation programs will deliver savings each and every month as our homes and businesses use less power. They will also create high-paying jobs in a clean, new energy economy.
I'd like to see where this stat is coming from? How does a 2% loss in energy consumption get anyone anywhere? I'm going to see a savings on my bill from a loss of power?
I remember the Commonwealth Edison guy coming to my grade school as a kid telling us electricity would be virtually free once ComEd went nuke.
I am an Army Veteran and served in Iraq now almost 2 years ago.
Commissioner Avila, his son and family with the Teamsters have done a great deal to help veterans find jobs with Teamsters Local 786 and President Michael Yeagher and Liz Belcaster with the Irish Heritage Singers where Mrs. Avila also sings.
They have done TV shows on Channel 19 Cable Access Network that are also on YouTube and the internet although you will have to find someone else to tell you how to access them.
The MWRD (along with other government agencies like the Illinois Department of Transportation IDOT and Roy Dolgas the Deputy Director) have not only a Veterans Preference (that no doubt the State has been bad at) but also a Helmets to Hardhats getting veterans getting out of the military into union jobs especially the Army MOS of 88M into civilian truck driving jobs both in government like IDOT and the MWRD as well as private sector companies like Ozinga, Prairie, and many others.
Through President Yeagher (who is also a 173rd Vietnam Veteran) I have met young men like myself who served in Iraq and Afghanistan (and also stateside and other locales) who were out of work for 2 years and now are working thanks to the TV shows that publicized this program with Commissioner Avila and Frank Avila Jr and the networking of the Teamsters in the construction materials companies. These young men and women know how to get up early, be somewhere on time, not talk back, take orders, and are in the best shape of their lives. They also appreciate a private sector job that is relatively safe from those driving in Iraq or Afghanistan regardless of the make of vehicle with roadside bombs, ambushes etc.
President Mike Yeagher of the Teamsters (again a Vietnam veteran), the USO, Operation Support our Troops, Commissioner Avila, the Avila Cable and Internet TV program with Avila Jr as the host also did shows on sending care packages to Iraq and Afghanistan and have helped send hundreds of 25 pound care packages personally. They have a website that you can send one and have sent tens of thousands over time. The TV shows promoted the Catigny (Big Red One WWII--the movie with Lee Marvin and actual historical) concert with Gary Sinese (who they consider the Bob Hope of our time) and Dennis Miller the comedian. This concert was not just a ra ra political support the war, but more importantly to support our troops even if in small ways with Operation Support Our Troops and Care Packages or through the Teamsters and Helmets to Hardhats getting veterans jobs when they get out. I know for a fact that Commissioner Avila, his wife and family have helped Veterans get jobs and helped raise money with these groups to get care packages to Iraq and promote awareness of these groups and activities. Agan, most practically and importantly I have personally met Veterans who got jobs at companies like Ozinga and government agencies like IDOT through the TV programs of the Avila family.
The concert in Wheaton with Gary Sinese and the LT Dan Band was incredible and loads of fun for everyone including lots of veterans, reservists, family, kids, seniors from all over. It raised money so Operation Support Our Troops could continue the good they do.
One elected official who is better than Commissioner Avila (not to compare in a negative way as they work together and everyone is on the same team, Avila may be a COL but Quinn is the General) is LT GOV Pat Quinn. He is at every funeral, every event but very practically he has helped speed up through bureacracy Veterans making sure they have their scholarship funds (I know one Veteran who is in law school right now through the Illinois National Guard), Medical Care, and now jobs. Pat Quinn is the best for veterans.
Lots of politicians talk the talk but Commisioner Avila and LT GOV Pat Quinn talk the talk. Real practical, even if sometimes small, support for Veterans.
Most importantly jobs for Veterans when they get out through Helmets to Hardhats.
The job fair was yesterday at Navy Pier and it made you want to cry and finally be proud of something politicians and labor unions were doing.
Bill -
The savings from efficiency programs come two ways.
First, they suppress the overall market price for power by reducing the amount of power used at peak times (usually afternoon on hot summer days.) Most of the price we pay for power all year round is driven by how expensive it gets when things get tight on days like that - so even relatively small cuts in power use drive down the overall rate we all pay for electricity.
Second, the homes & businesses that end up using less energy as a result of the new conservation programs (everything from more efficient light bulbs, appliances, etc) will pay less each month.
Saving energy will always be cheaper than generating energy - from any source.
Jack
ComEd and the whole Nuke power thing was a bad deal for consumers.
The Daleys were personally involved in some of that.
Nuclear energy is demonized but actually relatively, clean efficient, and safe.
I do think that Society and Government and Industry should push for more Solar energy, Wind energy, if things like fusion are possible. It seems that an electric car is possible.
Technology should move for safer ways for energy and fuel.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District does some good things. The individual example of a locally originated and primarily vegan diet is good as well as driving a hybrid car--again not the be all end all but role models and doing small things are important.
While I do support our troops and have a nephew in Iraq. The troops should come home and this war and the premises behind it are a debacle and sham. Part of the reason is that Iraq and the region have so much oil. We need to become less dependent on oil, especially foreign oil. Period.
The soldiers are soldiers and the blame goes to the President and these mercenary companies making money off the war and off of oil.
It is really sick with no real resolution in sight.
Jack Darin may be right but the problem is that ComEd and Governor Blagojevich have so little good will that whenever they do something good or right, Nobody believes them.
Blagoejevich is generally a terrible governor but has done some good on the environmental side.
JB, the Deep Tunnel is a good thing for water treatment and supply. We have pretty good water here in the Chicago area.
The MWRD is pretty cost efficient especially in contrast to other areas for water treatment. I would stay away from bottled water but sanitize the tap water.
Bottled water is a scam.
We are lucky to live by the Great Lakes and lucky to have a great engineering accomplishment like the MWRD. I think Commissioner Frank Avila is the only Engineer of any type on the Board and specifically a Civil and Structural Engineer professionally licensed.
Lastly, support our troops, get them jobs and send them gifts but oppose this lying deadly so called war.
Again,
Are all the posters on here (save Baar) living on another planet?
Who cares if Avila is a vegetarian? He just poured 200 million gallons of poopwater into the lake. What would the man have to do before you would show some skepticism? Is it ok to be the biggest polluter in Cook County as long as you hire veterans?
What is the point of the multi-billion $ Deep Tunnel project if the MWRD still pours 200 million gallons of sewage on our lakefront? Ever ask anyone who works on that project what goes on there? If in a fit of honesty, they might tell you that the deep tunnel generally doesn't work and is a giant patronage/no-show scheme. Anon 1.11, how about getting these tunnels/holding tanks working rather than shrugging shoulders?
I am glad that veterans get jobs. It would be pleasant if these jobs involved something productive to society.
JBP
JB?
What would you do?
The WRD is not polluting but making sure there is not more pollution or flooding.
I talk to people who work on the deep tunnel and not one said it is a patronage/no show scheme but it also not solving all problems for all times.
2 items you have not disputed:
1. The Water Quality of the Chicago area partially due to the engineering of the Sanitary District is very good.
2. The treatment of waste water which is good is also relatively cost efficient compared with other cities in the US and other parts of the world.
What are the alternatives to pouring sewage into the lakefront?
Is that before or after treatment?
Is it necessary and are there worse consequences if you don't do that?
So what?
The guy poured 200 million gallons of sewage in the lake. The same guy, along with the harpies Durbin and Kirk and the Tribune had a fit when BP even considered pouring a few pounds of amonia in the lake. The level of incompetence is staggering.
The district must make it a priority to keep the lake clean. Higher than vegetarianism, providing jobs for veterans, condemning Milwaukee, BP etc.
The big tunnel is unaccountable. Billions of dollars spent, an unworking system, and still millions of gallons of raw sewage in the lake.
Account for it.
JBP
JB,
you are usually logical and well reasoned. Here I don't see it although you may be right.
The BP Amoco was not just a little amonia but also mercury which many hypothesize is causing this increase in autism and other human birth defects. Sewage is, well somewhat natural, as it is human waste and must go somewhere (it used to go directly into our drinkin water and before the Sanitary District there was widespread death in Chicago from waterborn bacteria)
Also, I don't know if 1 Commissioner out of the 12 put the sewage in the lake or how Durbin and Kirk and the Tribune did not say anything. How is that incompetent?
The sewage you speak of is naturally put into our ecosystem.
Is is before or after it is treated? That is important.
Also, what are the options and alternatives that were asked from you above.
The big tunnel is unaccoutanble but you give no examples or cite any sources. If the tunnel works maybe it prevents millions from going into the lake and millions still get into the lake.
Do you understand the system and what it is supposed to do?
Isn't waste put into the lake at all times depending on rain, what it is, and if it needs it so waste isn't backed up?
You don't seem very logical on this JB--and even if you are right--you don't seem to explain how or source it.
You do have a great sense of architecture especially Sacred architecture.
READ THE ACTUAL ARTICLE. NOT QUITE THE ALARMIST NONSENSE THAT JB POWERS POSTED. ALSO NOT THE BIG IMPACT HE CLAIMS. LASTLY, NOT A VERY ACCURATE COMPARISON TO BP AMOCO. ALSO NOT MUCH TO DO WITH ONE COMMISSIONER OR SEN DURBIN OR CONGRESSMAN KIRK. IT IS DUE TO LOTS OF RAIN AND THE GENERAL SUPERTINEDENT MAKES THE DECISION LANYON ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE NOT THE COMMISSIONERS AND NOT SEN DURBIN OR CONG KIRK. THE OVER RAIN NECESSITATED IT AND THERE WAS NOT MUCH CHOICE. THE TREATMENT AND DEEP TUNNEL MADE SURE IT WAS A LOT LESS THAN IF THERE WAS NONE. FINALLY, THE WATER QUALITY ACCORDING TO TESTS DID NOT CHANGE AND IS BEING MONITORED--MOST IMPORTANTLY. GET FACTS CORRECT AND DON'T BE ALARMIST AND PLACE BLAMES WHERE THERE IS NONE.
Although heavy rains flushed storm water and sewage this week from the Chicago River system into Lake Michigan for the first time in five years, Chicago and other cities so far haven't detected any changes in the quality of drinking water from the lake.
Chicago officials reported Friday that bacteria levels in untreated lake water haven't changed since the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District began to release runoff and sewage into the lake the night before.
Park districts from Chicago to Waukegan issued swimming advisories as a precaution but won't have results from their own tests for another day.
Related links
Chicago's Ohio Street Beach Photo
Map: Storms beat Deep Tunnel System Graphic
Health Club: Is lake safe for triathlon?
See storm damage Video
Glenview residents without power Video
Sad day for the family tree
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Storm damage tracker
Powerful storms rake Chicago area Photos
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See and share your storm photos
Check the radar
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River swells into surrounding areas Graphic
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WGN Radio's Emergency Closing Center
Your weather photos
From 6:55 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, at least 224 million gallons of bacteria-laden water flowed out of the North Shore Channel into Wilmette Harbor.
The prospect of more rain could mean the sluice gates and locks that separate the Chicago River system from Lake Michigan are re-opened over the weekend.
"We'll increase our testing during the next few days, but the good news is we haven't seen anything unusual," said Gary Litherland of the Chicago Water Management Department. "That means we haven't needed to increase the amount of chlorine in our treatment process."
Lake Michigan is cold enough that most bacterial and viral critters that swam out with the storm won't survive for long, officials said. Dilution also helps reduce any health threats.
The release of water into the lake served as a reminder that although the Deep Tunnel project has significantly reduced the need to open the locks and gates, it still isn't complete.
Although Chicago in the early 1900s reversed the flow of the Chicago River to keep sewage out of the region's supply of drinking water, for decades the district often had to allow the river to flow back out into the lake after heavy storms.
Starting in the mid-1970s, the district built a subterranean labyrinth that can hold about 1.8 billion gallons, roughly the effects of a 1-inch rain throughout the Chicago area.
Two reservoirs still in the works will be able to capture and hold substantially more—18 billion gallons—when completed in 2014.
"Little by little, we're nibbling away at this monster," said Richard Lanyon, the district's general superintendent.
The tunnels already were about half-full early Monday.
By Thursday night it became apparent that the additional rain would not give the district time to pump enough water through its already overwhelmed treatment plants to avoid flooding. So they made the unsavory decision to open the Wilmette gates.
"We were feeling pretty good earlier in the week," Lanyon said. "Then this other storm came through and kicked us in the butt."
Lets get this straight, there were 4 inches of rain, and the MWRD dumped tons of sewage in the lake. The taxpayers spent billions upon billions on a system that cannot process 4 inches of rain.
Even without using the All Caps keys, where is the accountability for such a system? Hidden behind a series of press releases touting vegetarianism?
JBP
4 inches of rain is 15 Billion gallons of water.
4 inches was preceded by a previous number of inches of rain just days before.
The choice is whether the water (and waste) goes into peoples basements or the lake.
It is not 224 million gallons (relatively small considering the rain and timing) but how much more would of gone into the Lake without a deep tunnel or other parts of the MWRDGC.
The individual Commissioners do not make the decision to open gates or anything like that, they make policy. The Engineering staff make the day to day and even crucial decisions as the Commissioners are not full time employees necessarily present at time of rain or flooding. If you disagree with the decision you can ask the Commissioners to change policy or complain to or about the Superintendent. In terms of alleged corruption of the MWRD, please call the US Attorneys office or the media. In terms of the Deep Tunnel not working, there have been issues, but there would be a lot more sewage in Lake Michigan and lots more problems with water quality and flooding without it.
The bacterial levels do not seem to have changed much nor is there permanent damage. It is a reality of water supply that is doing pretty well. It is objectively and scientifically different than what was proposed by BP Amoco or other types of commercial dumping into the Water supply.
I think you are misinformed or did not analyze this situation correctly although you perhaps do bring up some good points.
OK,
I must be wrong. It is ok to pour sewage in the river, and to have a multi billion dollar system fail at a critical time.
Who would have thought that it would ever rain four inches in Chicago? That must be tough to plan for, you would have to look at weather records. But then you would have to show up to work, and implement engineering standards rather than running a vegetarian promotion society.
Why is it that if Milwaukee (or BP) pours crap in the lake, people in Chicago are aghast, but if a vegan in Chicago pours crap in the lake, we have a team of apologists trying to explain why it is OK to use Lake Michigan as an outhouse?
Have you brave anonymous posters lost (collectively) your minds?
JBP
The problem as I see it is that we built a system designed for the runoff of 25 years ago, and did nothing in the interim to stop paving over our region and therefore increase runoff above those levels. In fact, that's about the time we started UNDERinvesting in transit, thereby making it attractive for all of the big downtown corporations to move out to the burbs and pave over acres and acres of perfectly good drainage land. And the recent infill development in the city hasn't helped, with the exception of a (proportionally) very few green roofs and rainbarrels.
If an economist designed our government instead of the yokels who have run it for the last 3 decades (everyone since Ogilvie, in my book, and the current lot is bad but no worse on these issues), we would be charging developers the true cost of their impact on our roads, our water supply and control system, and -- ultimately -- on our taxes. The absence of such a system charges our children and grandchildren for the sins of today. Although we have "balanced" budgets by law, they are balanced only in the fictional world of government accounting where you don't have to recognize growing deferred liabilities.
Sage,
I agree, the system was designed so far out of date that it would be very complex to get it to work. However, spending $4B on this project is certainly not "underinvestment". It is an incompetent wasteful mess, but some quick math gets you to $18 per gallon of poopwater that the MWRD poured in the lake last week.
Surely someone could pour sh*t in Lake Michigan for under $10 a gallon.
JBP
Thanks for thoughtful post, Jack. I'm glad that IL is taking the lead in energy policies.
I think we as a nation should go even farther in exploration of
SOLAR
ELECTRIC
through WIND
and other cleaner, efficient, and safer energies
From the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, September 2, 2007 in the Arts and Entertainment Section 7 on page 3: "Metromix Planner"--specifically: Critic's Pick/Blair Kamin titled "The Deep Tunnel":
"The recent flooding of home basements after heavy rains gives fresh relevance to this talk about the Deep Tunnel, a network of tunnels built to control water pollution and flooding in the Chicago area. Is the system working? Marcella Landis, supervising civil engineer at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, discusses teh Deep Tunnel as part of the Chicago Architecture Foundation's lunchtime lecture series. 12:15 p.m. Wednesday; free Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave; 312-922-3432. ext 252.
Hope to see some of you here.
It's a dirty job
Behind the scene workings of suburban water treatment plant reason why we can flush and forgetaboutit
By Eric Peterson | Daily Herald Staff
Most people probably don't think much about what happens after they flush their toilets.
But in Cook County, those millions of gallons of wastewater pay a visit to one of seven treatment plants in the Water Reclamation District of Great Chicago system.
One is the John E. Egan Water Reclamation Plant on Meacham Road in Schaumburg, which serves at least portions of Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village, Rolling Meadows, Hoffman Estates, Roselle, Palatine and Schaumburg.
Since 1975, the plant that originally cost $43 million to build has been processing the surrounding area's raw sewage -- an amount that today averages about 23 million gallons a day.
That might sound like a lot, but it's dwarfed by the south suburban Stickney facility, which processes about 800 million gallons a day and is touted as possibly the largest plant of its kind in the world.
Others plants that serve the Northwest suburbs are in Des Plaines and Hanover Park.
Because such facilities are considered possible terrorist targets, the water reclamation district has kept its plants largely closed off to the public since Sept. 11, 2001.
But tours of the facilities are resuming, beginning with local government officials. A group of Elk Grove Village and Schaumburg officials recently toured the Schaumburg facility.
"We're proud of what we do. We just don't brag about it very often," plant Manager Stephen Carmody told them. "Most people don't think about it when they flush the toilet."
How it works
Initially, waste water comes to the plants and is pumped up to an elevation from which gravity can do most of the work.
The sewage is first filtered through screens and grit chambers before moving to aeration tanks where microbes eat up most of the remaining toxic elements.
Solids sink to the bottom of the tanks where they are separated and go through their own digester process before ending up as biosolids that are shipped to farm fields. About six trucks are filled each day.
The treated water goes through a final process of chlorinating, filtering and dechlorination before it's pumped into the nearby Salt Creek, as well as used for irrigation of the adjoining golf course.
The sprawling plant stands on 275 acres, 10 of which are used for the growth of native prairie plants.
There's no system by which one treatment plant can take over the load of another, Carmody said. Instead, there are multiple backup systems and redundancies in the operation to insure against plant failure.
ComEd has two separate power lines to the plant, which is its first priority for power restoration when outages occur.
Long history
The reclamation district was created by state lawmakers in 1889 to protect Lake Michigan from contamination.
Famously, one of its first tasks was changing the course of the Chicago River away from the lake, but the first plants weren't built until the 1920s.
The agency received its current name in 1989, and in 2004 it also was put in charge of the region's storm water management.
Commissioner and Storm Water Management Chairwoman Patricia Young said the district was in the best position to provide a single responsible party to deal with the previously problematic issue of storm water management.
The district has been working since the 1980s on the Chicago area's Deep Tunnel Project, as storm water can more than double the amount of water in the system.
The agency employs about 2,100 people and is overseen by a board of nine commissioners. The current president of which is Terrence O'Brien.
"This agency has always been one of the best kept secrets," O'Brien said. "We've never gotten any complaints that we haven't taken a flush."
However, since the district took over the responsibility for storm water management in 2004, flooded basements have become its problem as well, O'Brien said.
JB,
The current system is intended to dump sewage into the lake, until the Deep Tunnel can go fully operational.
In addition, we obviously had an extraordinary weather event across the entire Chicago region (north to south, west to east) that led to the dumping.
Or were you locked up in a cave and missed all that weather?
As others have noted, 4" of rain is equivalent to 15 billion-with-a-B gallons of water. And it came all in just a matter of hours and across the entire region.
Let us know where your house is and next time we'll dump all that rainwater there instead. Maybe that will satisfy you.
--
As for what can be changed, the more hard surfaces we build, the less area there is for rainwater to soak into the ground instead of running off. MWRD Commissioner Deb Shore has proposed offering rain barrels to Cook County homeowners. Sounds simple, but 50 gallon rain barrels x millions of homes = billions of gallons of rainwater that would go into people's barrels to be used later (more slowly) in their garden or on their lawn.
But even such a simple change takes a long time to implement.
Grow up and try thinking before you type.
Rob,
Let me get this straight. You think:
1) 4 inches of rain is an extraordinary event.
2) Instituting sort of a 18th century Rain Barrel solution is a good idea, even after spending over $3 Billion on a system that does not work.
3) 30+ years is not enough time to develop a system to prevent sewage from being poured in the lake. $3 Billion is not enough money to prevent sewage from being poured in the lake.
4) No one should raise questions about the MWRD accountability or you will want to dump rainwater in their basement.
It is long since time the taxpayers of Cook County asked for some accountability to the Deep Tunnel project. While our Mayors, Senators, and Representatives (both Republican and Democrat) yammer on like their pants are on fire when a legitimate business formulates a plan to use more Canadian Oil, there is total silence when the MWRD pours 8 months of the proposed daily BP maximum pollution output in the lake.
Personally i don't want any of these jokers to pour pollution in the lake, but the bizzare defense that it is ok for vegetarians to blow $3 Billion and pour sewage in the lake is beyond belief.
JBP
JB Powers seems obsessed with insulting one commissioner and making fun of vegetarians or supposed press releases.
He has many logical flaws including:
1. Ad hominem attacks.
2. Straw men.
3. Distracting arguments
4. Not analyzing or even looking at what others are saying.
1. The Deep Tunnel pre-dated Commissioner Avila, Commissioner Shore and other Commissioners.
2. The Deep Tunnel has never had accusations of no show jobs.
3. The Deep Tunnel may or may not be a waste of money based on cost but the waste water treatment and ability to handle water is better than before.
4. The distinction between the BP Amoco dumping and the MWRDGC water is different. JB Powers please talk to engineers nad chemists not associated with the District.
5. Please bring any scientific data that demonstrates the water was significantly affected or bacteria was higher (waste water is constantly put back into our lakes, rivers and oceans)
6. Chicago actually has cleaner water than most other places in the world and nation including the western industrialized modern parts and other major cities (and even suburban and rural areas)
7. The MWRDGC actually gave money back on the last tax bill and has one of the best water treated per dollar ratios in the world compared to other sanitary districts.
8. The engineers and specifically the general superintendent and not the Commissioners (which are policy makers and not full time employees) made the decision to release the water. Commissioner Avila did not make the decision and probably knew about it after the fact but you keep on repeating a lie and making jokes about vegetarians.
9. You mistate the rainfall as it is not measured in one day but over time and again 4 inches in a rapid period of time (after days of rainfall) is tens of billions of gallons of water. This is compared to pre-Deep Tunnel. There will always (absent some unkown technology we do not have yet) some of this water put back into the lake. The other alternative is flooding of basements.
10. Lastly, compare this to pre-Deep Tunnel and compare this to other regions.
Learn more about the Deep Tunnel (not to say there are not possible criticisms) but it is not the patronage (as it is higher end workers like engineers and not ward organization hacks and there has never been any allegations and I did a google search and talked to othes on ghost payrolling--if there are no show jobs--please call the FBI JB Powers)
You unfairly single out one commissioner. You are insulting and unnecessarily disrespectful.
You are incorrect in your facts.
You are incorrect in your analysis and conclusions.
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