To Members of the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group:
IERG Staff has updated the membership on this emerging issue at the last two Quarterly Meetings and in a few emails over the summer, and has raised a number of our Member’s concerns with the Agency over that time. Yesterday, IERG Staff met with Illinois EPA Director Lisa Bonnett, who shared that she will be meeting with her EJ team within the next two weeks to address many of the concerns IERG has raised. She committed to scheduling another meeting with IERG Staff and any interested Members shortly thereafter to address all of our remaining issues, including sharing with us the Agency’s specific criteria for placing a facility on its “red flag” list. Members may recall that this “red flag” list is a screening tool the Agency utilizes; once a facility is on this list, any permitting transaction submitted by that facility shall be reviewed by the Agency’s EJ team to determine whether any EJ-related activity (notice, meetings, etc) is necessary.
IN THE MEANTIME, the Director agreed to answer our questions concerning which sites are currently “red flagged.” If you would like to know if your facility is on this list, please respond to this email with your facility name and street address(es) BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH. IERG Staff will then compile a list of all of the facilities submitted to us, and forward it to the Agency for its review.