This Month
Across the Midwest
APRIL 2025 NEWSLETTER

Cuts to NOAA & National Weather Service threaten the Midwest

It’s not an exaggeration to say the Trump administration’s budget cuts to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. National Weather Service will put lives at risk.

WGN Chief Meteorologist Emeritus Tom Skilling talked with ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner about the budget cuts that will impact weather forecasting. System satellites, doppler radars, and scientists are critical to predicting tornados, hurricanes, floods, cold, and heat waves. Without that data, forecasts will be less accurate, leaving communities unprepared and vulnerable to devastating disasters.

Watch Here: [link removed]

CLEAN WATER

ELPC Represents Farmers Fighting to Protect Iowa Wetlands , National Implications

ELPC is in federal court this week, representing the Iowa Farmers Union and family farmers defending wetlands protections in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Swampbuster program. "The stakes are huge for farmers, the American public and the environment, but the stakes are nothing for the plaintiff.”
ELPC & Partners Threaten Lawsuit to Protect Iowa Water from Coal Ash

The Ottumwa coal ash landfill has been discharging polluted groundwater into the Des Moines River watershed, unpermitted. This month, ELPC, Iowa Environmental Council, and Sierra Club notified Alliant Energy’s Iowa affiliate of their intent to sue to stop the discharges and hold the plant accountable.
LEARN MORE: [link removed]

Clean Energy

Michigan Utility’s Environmental Justice Resiliency Plan Moves Forward

In its latest rate case, the Michigan Public Service Commission accepted Consumers Energy’s new “EJ Resiliency Plan,” which aligns with ELPC and our allies’ recommendations. It directs strategic investments in Environmental Justice communities to improve reliability.

LEARN MORE: [link removed]

CLEAN TRANSPORTATION

Illinoisans: Tell your Legislators to Save Public Transit

Chicago's CTA, Metra, and Pace agencies are facing a fiscal cliff and need new funding to prevent devastating service cuts that could put thousands of additional cars on the road. We must save the system, but we can do better than that. We deserve safety, accountability, and world-class transit service.

TAKE ACTION HERE: [link removed]

News Roundup

* Canary Media – Ohio utility retracts energy-efficiency plan despite potential savings. [[link removed]]
* Inside Climate News – Nation's First Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Could Come to Michigan in 2030 [[link removed]]
* E&E News – USDA prods rural energy grantees to ditch climate, equity goals [[link removed]]
* Floodlight - Farmers in Trump country were counting on clean energy grants. Then the government moved the goalposts. [[link removed]]
* NBC 5 Chicago - Federal workers rally against job cuts for EPA by DOGE [[link removed]]
* Crain’s Grand Rapids Business – Great Lakes Region Readies for its Role in a Nuclear Energy Revival [[link removed]]
* ELPC Blog : Recap: Great Lakes Days at the Capitol [[link removed]]
* Iowa Capital Dispatch : Environmental Groups to Sue Alliant Claiming Groundwater Pollution [[link removed]]
* MLive: Trump power plant pollution rollbacks threaten Michiganders, advocates warn [[link removed]]
* Wisconsin Public Media: Wisconsin may see more logging of national forest land under Trump order [[link removed]]
* Cleveland.com: More Gas, Fewer Surcharges: Breaking Apart the Senate’s Plan to Solve Ohio’s Energy Crisis [[link removed]]
* ELPC Blog : Remembering Brady Williamson, ELPC Board Member and Litigation Approval Committee Chair [[link removed]]
* Greenwire : Obama-Era EPA Water Chief Joins Environmental Nonprofit [[link removed]]


We're all in to protect the Midwest environment
Founded in 1993, the Environmental Law & Policy Center is the Midwest's leading environmental legal advocacy organization. We advocate, innovate, and litigate to protect the Midwest's environment from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains.

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Chicago, IL 60601
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