Governor Quinn recently announced the 2012 Illinois Clean Water Initiative for affordable drinking water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades. One billion dollars in additional financing will be available from the Illinois EPA over the next two years.  

 

The Illinois Clean Water Initiative will be financed through the sale of bonds by the Illinois Finance authority, which will not increase the general obligation debt of the state.  

 

To learn more about Governor Quinn's Clean Water Initiative, visit www.CleanWater.Illinois.gov.

Reminder: The Green Economy/

Sustainable Water Center at CLC is hosting a lunchtime workshop on environmentally friendly ways to fight snow and ice. The workshop is from noon to 1:00 pm on Thursday,  November 29, in Room A112 at the Grayslake Campus. No RSVP required. Bring your own lunch.

For more information contact Cassandra McKinney at cmckinney@clcillinois.edu.

 
On October 1, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), the federal transportation reauthorization bill went into effect. Some of the changes are below. Thanks to Metro Strategies for their recap.

In the new legislation, CMAQ remains its own program and was funded at $2.21b in 2013 and $2.23b in 2014. It will continue to be distributed through the metropolitan planning organizations. A key change is that under the energy bill some CMAQ projects could be funded at 100%. As a result, policies to address this were adopted at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). MAP-21 rewinds the energy bill policy back to an 80/20 split. CMAP will be addressing this change accordingly.
 

Many programs including Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, Recreational Trails, and Scenic Byways were rolled into one program called Transportation Alternatives. It allows a state DOT additional flexibility on when and where they will use those funds. Critics say state DOTs won't end up using the funds on those activities at all. Proponents laud the change allowing states the ability to make changes specific to their area's needs. The National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse put together a great summary of the TE changes.

For additional information go to the CMAP policy brief.