This Month Across the Midwest: February 2025 Newsletter

1) Illinois EPA Steps Up Against Toxic Landfill on Chicago’s Southeast Side

This January, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency told the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that its proposed dredged waste landfill along the Lake Michigan shoreline goes against Illinois law. The Alliance of the Southeast and Friends of the Parks, represented by ELPC, filed a lawsuit in 2023 to block the toxic dump from being built on Chicago’s Southeast Side in a community already overburdened with contamination. This lakefront site, just north of Calumet Park, has long been promised to become a park.

“Illinois EPA’s action is a vital step forward to the long-delayed victory for protecting our environment and the Great Lakes and for protecting people in environmental justice communities in Chicago,” said ELPC CEO & Executive Director Howard Learner. “Chicago’s lakefront is for people and parks, not toxic waste dumps.”

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2) Smarter Grid Planning Will Cut Costs & Accelerate Clean Energy in Southern Illinois

Last week, ELPC and partners reached a settlement with Ameren to integrate grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) into transmission planning in its Illinois service territory. GETs save ratepayers money by optimizing transmission lines so less electricity is wasted and existing lines can carry more power, among other benefits.

Read more: [[link removed]]

3) Coalition Fights Great Lakes Pipeline in Michigan Appeals Court

ELPC and the Michigan Climate Action Network (MiCAN) joined Native American tribes and other advocates in Lansing last month to stop the Line 5 tunnel project. Further cementing the 70-year-old oil pipeline across the Straits of Mackinac would contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and have long-term climate impacts.

Read more: [[link removed]]

4) 5 Ways ELPC Will Protect the Midwest Under the Trump Administration

Without wasting time, the Trump administration is rolling back core environmental protections—removing scientific data and cutting funds for bipartisan programs. But ELPC is not stepping back; we’re stepping up to protect the Midwest, hold polluters accountable, and advance common-sense climate solutions.

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5) Webinar Recordings
* Saving Public Transit in Chicagoland: [[link removed]]
* Protecting the Great Lakes in the Trump Era: [[link removed]]


ELPC
35 E Wacker Dr 1600
Chicago, IL 60601
United States
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