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This Month
Across the Midwest
June 2025 Newsletter
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Victory for Clean Water! Federal Judge Rules to Protect Swampbuster Program [[link removed]]
This week, an Iowa District Court sided with ELPC and a coalition of sustainable agriculture groups in a lawsuit over longstanding conservation provisions of the Farm Bill. The Swampbuster and Sodbuster programs incentivize farmers to help protect wetlands and reduce erosion. The programs are credited with reducing soil erosion by 40%, making farmland more productive and improving water quality.
The libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation, keen on removing wetlands from protection under the Clean Water Act, filed suit on behalf of a wealthy Chicago-based landowner against the federal government to decouple federal farm subsidies from these basic conservation requirements. ELPC and our Iowa partners intervened to retain those protections. ELPC Staff Attorney Katie Garvey said, “this decision is a win for family farmers who know that Swampbuster is fair, makes sense, and is worth protecting.”
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[[link removed]] Transportation [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Off Track: Illinois Fumbles on Public Transit Legislation [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] RTA, CTA, Metra, and Pace must start planning service cuts, after the state legislative season closed without passing a transit bill. But the fight is not over. ELPC will work with our environmental, transportation, and labor partners to push for legislative action as soon as possible to save the system.
[[link removed]] Clean Air [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Trump Admin Forces Coal Plant to Unnecessarily Remain Open in Michigan [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Michigan’s J.H. Campbell plant has been preparing to shutter for years, until the Trump administration stepped in at the last second, driven by ideology over sound economics, public health, and common sense. “This is just bad policy,” said Howard Learner, ELPC’s CEO. “It is moving us backward by imposing what may be significant costs on ratepayers to run a coal plant which is no longer economic and regulators have found is not necessary.”
[[link removed]] Clean Energy [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Ohio Passes Sweeping Energy Package, But Misses Key Demand-Side Solutions [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] The Ohio legislature passed a bipartisan reform package that will boost electricity supply, lower customer costs, and strengthen the state’s power grid. But there’s more work to be done. “Good energy policy manages both the supply side and the demand side.” said Rob Kelter, ELPC Managing Attorney. “As electricity use grows and prices rise, Ohio can’t afford to ignore the other half of the equation.”
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* IndyStar – Hoosiers Call for Tighter Pollution Controls for BP’s Lake Michigan Refinery Permit [[link removed]]
* E&E News – Former DOJ Environment Lawyer Takes on Trump Deregulatory Agenda [[link removed]]
* Chicago Tribune – Illinois Coal Plants Get Trump Exemptions from Biden-Era Rule Limiting Mercury, Other Toxic Air Pollution [[link removed]]
* Public News Service – EPA on Pause: Who’s Policing Polluters in the Great Lakes State and Beyond? [[link removed]]
* Bridge Michigan – Michigan’s Fight Against Lake Erie Pollution Didn’t Work. What Happens Next? [[link removed]]
* Planet Detroit – Michigan Biodigester Bills Raise Water Pollution Concerns: “Health and Tourism Disaster” [[link removed]]
* Capitol News Illinois – Consumer Advocates Tell Regulators to Slash Rate Hike Requests from Ameren, Nicor [[link removed]]
* Michigan Public Radio – Water Determines Great Lakes Region’s Economic Future [[link removed]]
* The Cool Down – Major Utility Company Hit with Lawsuit Over Decades of Toxic Dumping in State Waterways: ‘We Are Concerned” [[link removed]]
* Crain’s Chicago Business – Michael Polsky’s Invenergy Awards $1.7 Billion as Part of Largest U.S. Power Line Project [[link removed]]
* Post Tribune – U.S. Steel Applies for EPA Hazardous Air Exemptions [[link removed]]
* Chicago Tribune Letters – To Save Mass Transit in the Chicago Region, We Must Think Long Term [[link removed]]
* Utility Dive – PJM Fast-Tracks 11.8 GW, Mainly Gas, to Bolster Power Supplies [[link removed]]
* Inside Climate News – From Blight to Bright: Michigan Explores Solar Power on Brownfield Sites [[link removed]]
* E&E News – Rural Energy Allies Gear Up for Spending Fight [[link removed]]
* Northwest Indiana Times – Environmental Groups Petition EPA to Object to East Chicago Steel Mill Air Permit Renewal [[link removed]]
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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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ELPC
35 E Wacker Dr 1600
Chicago, IL 60601
United States
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