Water Safety Tips for the 4th of July Holiday

With warm weather predicted for the 4th of July weekend, we know a refreshing dip in a lake or a river paddle will be on the top of many of your to-do lists. But unfortunately, we must warn you to be on the lookout for harmful algal blooms in order to keep your families and…

Upper Mississippi River named America’s Most Endangered River for 2020

The Upper Mississippi River needs a Water Management Plan. This post written by Christine Favilla, Three Rivers Project Co-coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Piasa Palisades Group headquartered out of Alton, Illinois. American Rivers named the Upper Mississippi River America’s Most Endangered River® of 2020, citing the grave threat that climate change and poor river and…

Federal Court Decision Raises Questions about a Permit Issued for Pond Creek Mine’s Wastewater Pipeline to the Big Muddy River in Southern Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 20, 2020 Contact: Amanda Pankau, Prairie Rivers Network, 217-840-3057, apankau@prairierivers.org Cindy Skrukrud, Sierra Club, 312-229-4694, cindy.skrukrud@sierraclub.org Williamson Energy, owner of the Pond Creek Mine in Franklin and Williamson County, Illinois, has applied for or received several permits needed to construct a proposed 12-mile pipeline to pump mine wastewater into the Big…

STATE WATER QUALITY REPORT HIGHLIGHTS COLLABORATION, STAKEHOLDER COMMITMENT TO REDUCE NUTRIENT LOSS Farm, Local Government and Environmental Leaders Call for Sustained Investment to Meet Clean Water Goals

STATE WATER QUALITY REPORT HIGHLIGHTS COLLABORATION, STAKEHOLDER COMMITMENT TO REDUCE NUTRIENT LOSS Farm, Local Government and Environmental Leaders Call for Sustained Investment to Meet Clean Water Goals November 20, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Cindy Skrukrud, Clean Water Program Director, Illinois Sierra Club, 815-353-5123 Beth Vogt, President, Illinois Association of Wastewater Agencies, 217-523-1814 Andrea Casali,…

The Dawn of a Bold New Era in Illinois?

Illinois May Be Emerging As One of America’s Environmental Leadership States. The seemingly sudden passage of several mega-measures by the Illinois General Assembly in the final days of the spring legislative session undoubtedly surprised many Illinoisans who learned that, over the first weekend of summer, the legislature legalized recreational cannabis use, expanded gaming, launched a long…

Connecting for Clean Water: First statewide Water Sentinels gathering a huge success!

Last weekend, Sierra Club volunteers from around the state came together for our first Illinois Water Sentinels gathering, hosted by the Eagle View Group in the Quad Cities. The weekend included presentations from water experts, outings to explore the area and witness the impacts of flooding, plus opportunities to connect with one another over shared…

Illinois House and Senate Pass Landmark Legislation to Clean Up Coal Ash

Bill addresses coal ash impoundments plaguing the state for decades Yesterday the Illinois Legislature passed SB9, the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act, which now heads to the Governor’s desk. The groundbreaking bill addresses the many waste pits filled with coal ash, the toxic byproduct of burning coal, located all over the state. Illinois is now…

Reflections on HOW Great Lakes Conference in Detroit

Earlier in May, I attended the Healing our Waters (HOW) Coalition’s annual Great Lakes Conference. It was the coalition’s 14th (and my 4th) iteration of this conference, and this year showed a palpable shift in how things are done, who is invited to the podium and what content is highlighted. The conference booklet describes a…

Sierra Club, Friends Seek to Join Attorney General in Trump Tower Lawsuit

August 20, 2018  On Monday, August 20, 2018, Friends of the Chicago River and the Sierra Club filed a motion in Cook County Circuit Court to intervene in a lawsuit against the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. The lawsuit stems from permit violations by the Trump Tower which uses 19.7 million gallons of…

Celebrate World Water Day with us!

Today is World Water Day. World Water Day is a global day of awareness on the importance of water. Here in Illinois, we’re fortunate to have the world’s largest source of surface freshwater in the world right in our backyard. But pollution, invasive species and clean water policy rollbacks by the Trump Administration are threatening…