To Members of the Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group:
There have not been many developments coming out of Illinois’ Commission on Environmental Justice; however, the Commission and its sub-committees continue to meet, and IERG Staff is providing this brief update to those Members hoping to stay apprised of the Commission’s work. As the Members may recall, IERG’s Executive Director Alec Messina is the only business representative appointed to the Commission. On February 26, 2014, IERG Staff attended two meetings: a meeting of the Commission’s Sub-Committee on Agency Involvement, and a meeting of the Commission’s Sub-Committee on Brownfields Redevelopment. To date, these are the only two sub-committees created by the Commission. Both sub-committees plan to meet again on March 12, 2014, in the hopes of having “something” to present to the full Commission at its next meeting, which is scheduled for March 20, 2014, at the Thompson Center in Chicago (although they will be setting up a video conference in Springfield for those interested in attending but not wanting to make the drive to Chicago).
The Sub-Committee on Agency Involvement was created as a means to focus the six state agencies that are represented on the Commission on their own Environmental Justice policies. Those agencies are: Illinois EPA, and the Departments of Transportation, Natural Resources, Public Health, Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and Aging. Many of the agencies don’t have formal policies; some didn’t even know what environmental justice was. The purpose of the meeting was to review each agency’s answers to a simple questionnaire about the programs they have in place and the types of outreach it conducts in those programs. Presumably, the next step is to identify any gaps in each agency’s outreach efforts and ways in which those efforts might be bolstered.
The Sub-Committee on Brownfields Redevelopment was created at the request of the Commission’s many neighborhood group representatives. At the request of the Sub-Committee, the Illinois EPA sent four Bureau of Land staff people to explain the Agency’s brownfields-related programs, and to describe the opportunities within each program for public outreach and input. What became clear during the meeting, however, is that those groups are less interested in public outreach by the Agency (although they would like some say of course in how some properties are redeveloped), and more interested on how they can spur redevelopment in general, and whether there are state resources that can be used to incentivize that redevelopment.
At this time, it’s hard to say what direction the Commission is headed, or if it is in fact headed in ANY direction. IERG Staff will remain actively involved in these meetings, and will share any developments with our Members as soon as there are any to report. If you have any questions about the Commission or its work, please contact Alec Messina at 217-522-5512, extension 289.