During several days last week, a helicopter hauling a huge antenna flew at low altitudes over rural Champaign County. The antenna sent electromagnetic waves into the ground about 100 feet below, where they bounced off of underground rock and sediment formations, and were picked up by sensors mounted on the antenna’s frame. In this way
PATOKA – This summer, a district court ruled the Dakota Access Pipeline had to be shut down until a more thorough environmental review was done. That ruling was recently overturned, with the pipeline allowed to operate indefinitely. But multiple court battles continue. Reporter Lecia Bushak traveled to south-central Illinois to look into one of the
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois EPA (IEPA) testified last week in defense of proposed coal ash rules before the Illinois Pollution Control Board and the public. The rules would specify how the agency cleans up sites under the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act passed last year. That includes the cleanup and closure of coal combustion residual
CHAMPAIGN – Nitrate levels in Illinois drinking water continue to be an environmental health issue and in some areas are increasing, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The analysis gathered data on 10 largely agricultural states—including Illinois, Kansas and California—and found that many small, rural water systems have potentially unsafe
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater contamination, which can seep into protected waters like lakes or rivers. The ruling will allow Illinois environmental groups to sue companies that leak coal ash waste, a byproduct of coal burning, into groundwater.