PEORIA -- Here's a Sierra Club news release, good news for once:
An order issued by Illinois Department of Natural Resources Hearing Officer Michael O'Hara on November 12 rules that the Banner mine permit is denied. The Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources must issue a denial of the permit before the action is final.
The proposed coal strip mine location is between Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area and Banner Marsh. The mine site is in the Illinois River floodplain and borders the village of Banner
On September 27th, the Fulton County Circuit Court ruled that the September, 2009 decision issued by the IDNR Hearing Officer did not comply with state law. The Illinois Attorney General, Sierra Club, and numerous Banner area residents had filed to appeal the earlier decision by the Hearing Officer, stating many problems with the original ruling.
“Now I don't have to worry every day about a coal mine in my front yard,” said Teresa Grigsby, of rural Banner.
Much of the mine area has been flooded numerous times in the last several years.
The new City of Canton water line from near the Illinois River now runs along the mine property boundary.
John Grigsby, head of the Citizens for the Preservation of Banner Township, said, “This mine permit should never have been approved in the first place. Information was available and was presented that this mine permit was not feasible.”
“I was so worried that the mine would come in and destroy the best things about our area. The blasting would be right next to us. My fears were for the people of Banner and our water wells and all the nature that would be destroyed,” said Ken Fuller, Mayor, Village of Banner.
“The fact that it took a court ruling to point out to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that their own hearing officer did not follow the law, is more than disconcerting: it shows deep and serious problems with the mine permitting and review process in Illinois,” commented Joyce Blumenshine, Heart of Illinois Group Sierra Club. “This property was proposed for acquisition as part of Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area back in the 1980's, and it should be protected for the federally endangered species and natural resources values there.”
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A good title for the article is Human skin.
Posted by: ajf12 | December 07, 2010 at 12:58 AM