State Senator Dan Rutherford (R-Pontiac) recently released the amount of fees each city in Illinois was assessed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). After weeks of stonewalling, the agency finally provided the dollar amounts they charged the communities for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The new fees were assessed for sewer and wastewater discharge.
Rutherford was forced to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and appeal following the state agency’s refusal to provide the information to a sitting lawmaker. Rutherford requested the names and dollar amounts each community was assessed by the Blagojevich administration.
“After finally receiving the information, I now know why the IEPA wanted to keep the information secret,” Rutherford said. “It is evident that the new fees are biased and discriminatory. The Blagojevich-sponsored fees are one more example of favoritism and inequities at the expense of our small, rural and suburban communities.
“Chicago pays approximately 15 cents per person while the village of Maeystown in Southern Illinois is paying more than $20 per person and Smithfield in Western Illinois is paying more than $70 per person,” Rutherford indicated. “I am not suggesting that Chicago should be paying more, but there should be some equity in the fees that local governments pay.”
Rutherford is working with the Committee for Legislative Action to bring these fees to the
attention of the public. The information received from the IEPA FOIA request is now available
online at the Committee for Legislative Action’s Web site:
www.committeeforlegislativeaction.org.
