Ecology questions crop up in race for governor

Three years ago, leaders of Illinois' environmental groups started wondering if embracing Gov. Rod Blagojevich was such a good idea.

The Chicago Democrat had promised before taking office in 2003 to make environmental issues a key part of his agenda. But after his election, his administration made a handful of decisions that called those campaign pledges into question.

Among other things, Blagojevich rejected an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency plan to clean up the state's aging coal-fired power plants. His administration also awarded permits to build three coal plants, brushing off activists who wanted the state to require cleaner technologies.

Conservationists and outdoors enthusiasts, meanwhile, were outraged when Blagojevich tried to help balance the state budget by gutting funds for natural areas and by cutting hundreds of jobs at the state agency that oversees state parks.

As Election Day nears, some of that grousing has turned into cheers, though the governor's Republican opponent, Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, questions Blagojevich's commitment and reminds voters about the budget cuts.

Attitudes about Blagojevich's environmental record changed in part after he announced rules in January that would make the state's coal-fired power plants reduce toxic mercury pollution by 90 percent by 2009, far faster and deeper than federal rules would require.

The administration also moved to shut down the state's remaining hospital-waste incinerators. And to help combat global warming, Blagojevich pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from state government, boost the use of wind power and consider new restrictions on industry.

Funding in question

"We haven't agreed with them on everything, but on balance what they've done in a single term has been remarkable," said Jack Darin, executive director of the Illinois Sierra Club, which endorsed the governor for re-election.

Topinka's key environmental pledge has been to propose $500 million to buy more open space, protect water supplies and preserve the state's rivers. But the money hinges on legislative approval of a Chicago casino, which at best is uncertain.

In two major speeches on environmental issues, Topinka lashed out at Blagojevich for trying to eliminate two land conservation funds for a year, a plan that ultimately was rejected by state lawmakers.

She also has made an issue of the nearly 500 jobs cut from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which administration officials have acknowledged has left some state parks unsupervised and allowed silt to build up in state-owned lakes.

Cuts at the Natural Resources Department were one reason the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, an influential union that represents many state workers, declined to endorse Blagojevich for re-election. (It made no endorsement in the governor's race.)

Ethanol production backed

"I will pay attention to you and not take you for granted," Topinka told activists gathered at the Illinois Environmental Council's annual dinner earlier this month.

She backs the incumbent's proposed mercury rule and agrees that the state should do more to address global warming. Topinka also supports a proposal that would force utilities to rely on more wind and other renewable energy sources, which is a stated goal for state regulators but not a requirement.

Both Blagojevich and Topinka have made expanding the state's ethanol production a key part of their environmental and economic agendas.

The governor's energy plan calls for new coal-fired plants that would use newer technology that significantly reduces air pollution and could divert carbon dioxide into the ground instead of the atmosphere.

Two Illinois towns are finalists for a federally funded plant that would test the technology, known as coal gasification. But the utility industry has been reluctant to build similar plants on their own because they cost more than conventional coal burners.

Indeed, Blagojevich has promoted three other new coal plants that would use older, dirtier technology. The draw is that all three would burn Illinois coal, providing a boost for a beleaguered industry that has hemorrhaged jobs for decades.

If built, the three plants would put an additional 18 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The state's existing coal plants are responsible for 105 tons of the greenhouse gas each year. Only four other states release more.

Green Party candidate Rich Whitney supports a more aggressive strategy to wean the state from its reliance on coal to generate electricity. His plan would require utilities to provide 8 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2010 and 22 percent by 2020.

Whitney contends that his proposal would be a boon to farmers from lease payments for wind turbines on their land. It also could create more jobs by encouraging companies that make solar panels and other renewable energy equipment to build manufacturing plants in Illinois, he said.

All three candidates support efforts to protect wetlands that became open to development after a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

An eye on wetlands

State lawmakers have tried for several years to make it more difficult to develop the most ecologically sensitive patches of swampy ground, which help provide flood control and filter polluted runoff. But developers and their allies in the General Assembly have blocked the legislation.

More than half of America's wetlands have been destroyed since the late 1700s, and each year an additional 60,000 acres are lost, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Illinois, 90 percent of wetlands have been filled in or drained.