Bill Would Allow Illinois Residents to Challenge Environmental Permits

In late 2012, three environmental groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of several LaSalle County residents over a proposed silica sand mine on the eastern edge of Starved Rock State Park.

The residents, who lived directly adjacent to the site of the proposed mine, were concerned about its effect on their property values and their health, given the lung-damaging particulate matter that often comes from such operations.

The environmental groups – Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network and Openlands – raised additional questions about the mine’s impact on wildlife and the surrounding acres of soil-rich land, which is coveted by energy companies for the fine-grain sand found deep below the surface that serves as an essential ingredient for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The site contains an estimated 30 million tons of sand reserves...