Oak Lawn to Receive $12.7 Million in Stormwater Assistance as Part of New Law's Expansion of Clean Water Initiative

OAK LAWN - Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation to help combat flooding across the state and protect Illinois' drinking water. The legislation makes stormwater management and treatment projects available for state financial assistance following last year's record rainfall and severe flooding that affected communities across Illinois. At today's bill signing in Oak Lawn, Governor Quinn also announced that the community will be taking advantage of $12.7 million in low-interest loans from the assistance program for their local water system improvements. Today's action is part of Governor Quinn's agenda to drive the economy forward and protect the environment by modernizing Illinois' water infrastructure.

"During last year's record rainfall and flooding, we learned the hard lesson that flash flooding can have devastating effects," Governor Quinn said. "The Illinois Clean Water Initiative will now be able to help communities be more prepared than ever before in managing stormwater while creating thousands of construction jobs. This legislation will help to prevent flooding and protect our drinking water from pollution."

The Governor's $2 billion Clean Water Initiative has helped communities across the state secure low interest loans for drinking and wastewater infrastructure improvements. This new law builds on the overwhelming success of the program. At today's bill signing, Governor Quinn also announced that community of Oak Lawn will receive $12.7 million in low-interest loan assistance immediately as part of their nine-project Regional Water System Improvement program. The total $171 million Oak Lawn program will use Clean Water Initiative loans to help fund the majority of the work, with the five-year system improvements creating approximately 1,400 construction jobs.

"Expansion of the Governor's Clean Water Initiative will provide local governments with the ability to secure low-interest loans for capital projects that will prevent flooding and remove pollutants from stormwater," Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Lisa Bonnett said. "Governor Quinn's expanded $2 billion financing program is making significant improvements in water quality in our state, and has the added benefit of saving money for local residents and creating an additional 28,000 jobs for Illinois citizens."

"Climate change is already bringing wild, violent swings to our weather that have exposed serious limitations to Illinois' water infrastructure," Rob Moore of the Natural Resources Defense Council said. "We've seen flooding throughout the state in the last few weeks as heavy rains overwhelmed stormwater systems. It is going to take new ideas and new tools to meet the future challenges facing our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems. Thanks to the efforts of the General Assembly and the leadership of Governor Quinn the legislation signed into law today emphasizes water efficiency, green infrastructure and other proven techniques that will make Illinois more resilient and prepared for the future."

Senate Bill 2780, sponsored by State Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge) and State Representative Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), expands the Governor's Clean Water Initiative to include stormwater and green infrastructure projects. Expanding the projects eligible for financial assistance through the Clean Water Initiative will allow the IEPA to provide financial assistance to Illinois communities for storm sewers and stormwater-related activities, including green infrastructure. Governor Quinn first proposed the measure in his 2014 State of the State address. The new law takes effect immediately.

"This measure offers resources to cities, villages and towns that will prevent home flooding, improve water quality and create 28,000 local jobs," Senator Kotowski said. "In light of recent floods throughout Illinois, it is especially critical that we fund projects to improve stormwater treatment."

"This is an important step as we work in Springfield to embrace cleaner water and a greener Illinois," Representative Nekritz said. "By treating stormwater more effectively, we improve the quality of life for our residents and work to limit the damage that flooding causes far too often here."

Impervious surfaces like pavement and compacted terrain, which prevent rain and snowmelt from soaking into the ground, cover many urban and suburban areas and greatly increase the volume and velocity of stormwater runoff. The recent severe flooding events across Illinois demonstrate the need to fund stormwater treatment and storage projects.

In 2013, Governor Quinn signed Senate Bill 1869 which gives Illinois municipalities greater ability to build and invest in innovative stormwater management infrastructure to help mitigate damaging floods such as green roofs, rain gardens, bioswales, tree boxes, porous pavement, native plantings, constructed wetlands and more. The law expanded an existing law to include these items among the measures a municipality can employ to help prevent flooding.

Governor Quinn first launched the $1 billion Illinois Clean Water Initiative in his 2012 State of the State address to help local governments rebuild or repair clean water infrastructure, including aging wastewater and drinking water treatment systems and plants throughout the state. These projects ensure that facilities are being upgraded to protect our streams and rivers, drinking water supplies and the environment as a whole. Due to the overwhelming success of the program, Governor Quinn announced in his 2014 State of the State address that he was doubling the available financing to $2 billion. For more information regarding the program, please visit CleanWater.Illinois.gov.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2014 -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the creation of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) and the appointment of a 15-member board of directors. The new foundation will leverage public and private resources to increase the scientific and technological research, innovation, and partnerships critical to boosting America's agricultural economy.

Authorized by Congress as part of the 2014 Farm Bill, the foundation will operate as a non-profit corporation seeking and accepting private donations in order to fund research activities that focus on problems of national and international significance. Congress also provided $200 million for the foundation which must be matched by non-federal funds as the Foundation identifies and approves projects.

"Studies have shown that every dollar invested in agricultural research creates $20 in economic activity," said Vilsack. "Investments in innovation made over the past several decades have developed new products and new procedures that have been critical to the continued growth of American agriculture. We must continue to make strategic investments in research and technology if we are to remain leaders in the global economy."

The research funded by the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research will address issues including plant and animal health; food safety, nutrition and health; renewable energy, natural resources, and environment; agricultural and food security; and agriculture systems and technology.

The foundation's board of directors was chosen to represent the diverse sectors of agriculture. Seven of these board members were selected by the unanimous vote of the board's five ex-officio members from lists of candidates provided by industry, while eight representatives were unanimously elected from a list of candidates provided by the National Academy of Sciences. Congress mandated that the ex-officio members choose the initial 15 board members from among the lists provided by these two groups. However, new board members now have the option of adding additional members if they so choose. Secretary Vilsack said today he hoped the board would exercise its prerogative to add more members to expand the board's diversity.

In announcing the 15-member FFAR board today, Vilsack remarked, "Public-private partnerships are vital to the agricultural research community, and this is reflected in the membership of the foundation's board of directors."

The 15 voting members are:

• Dr. Kathryn Boor - the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
• Dr. Douglas Buhler - Director of AgBioResearch and Senior Associate Dean for Research for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University
• Dr. Nancy Creamer - Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Community Based Food Systems, North Carolina State University
• Dr. Deborah Delmer - Professor Emeritus of Biology, University of California-Davis
• The Honorable Dan Glickman - former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, current Executive Director of the Aspen Institute's Congressional Program
• Dr. Robert Horsch - Deputy Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Pamela Johnson - Chairwoman, National Corn Growers Association
• Dr. Mark E. Keenum - President, Mississippi State University
• Dr. Michael Ladisch - Director of the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University
• Dr. Christopher Mallett - Vice President of Research & Development, Cargill, Inc.
• Dr. Pamela Matson - Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
• Dr. Terry McElwain - Associate Director and Professor, Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, and Executive Director, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Washington State University
• Dr. Stanley Prusiner - Director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Professor of Neurology, University of California-San Francisco and 1997 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine
• Dr. Yehia "Mo" Saif - Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University
• Dr. Barbara Schaal - Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

More detailed biographical information for the FFAR Board of Directors can be found here.

The five ex-officio board members, all of whom were designated by Congress, are Vilsack; Dr. Catherine Woteki, USDA's Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist; Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, Administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service; Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, Director of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and Dr. France A. Córdova, Director of the National Science Foundation.

In a time of federal budgetary restraints, the new foundation is another innovative way to continue and expand investment in agricultural research. FFAR will complement existing Federal and Federally-funded agricultural science research endeavors and accelerate solutions to the challenges American agriculture.

Today's announcement was made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

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Report from Congressman's survey shows 70 percent of Iowans opposed to cuts that begin August 1

Washington, D.C. - Rep. Bruce Braley's (IA-01) office today issued a report that included the results of a survey of over 2000 Iowans who shared their opinions about upcoming cuts to Social Security field offices in Iowa. Sixty three percent of respondents had used their local Social Security field office, and 70 percent of respondents were opposed to upcoming cuts in services.

Beginning in October 2014, the Social Security Administration (SSA) planned to stop providing benefit verification letters in local field offices?however, after significant opposition from Braley?SSA announced that those cuts would be indefinitely delayed. Many seniors rely on these verification letters for a variety of services. Last year alone, millions of Americans used SSA offices to request benefit letters.

However, SSA also stated their intention to move forward implementing their plan to eliminate the issuance of Social Security number printouts face-to-face in its field offices beginning August 1?a cut Braley continues to oppose.

"The overwhelming majority of Iowans don't support these cuts?and they shouldn't?there's no indication they save taxpayers money or that those that need them won't be greatly inconvenienced," Braley said. "We were successful in eliminating one of these senseless cuts, and I'll be providing this survey information to the Social Security Administration so they can better understand how Iowans feel about these cuts."

These survey results stem from a call Braley made for Iowans to share their opinions on these cuts and their experiences with their local SSA field offices.

Iowa's 19 SSA field offices are located in Cedar Rapids, Decorah, Dubuque, Marshalltown, Waterloo, Burlington, Coralville, Davenport, Ottumwa, Council Bluffs, Creston, Des Moines, Ames, Carroll, Ft. Dodge, Mason City, Sioux City, Spencer, and Storm Lake.

Over 450,000 Iowa seniors received Social Security benefits in 2013.

Earlier this year, Braley introduced the Seniors' Access to Social Security Act, which would prevent cuts for one year, during which time Braley would seek verification that the proposed service cuts will not adversely affect Iowa's seniors and will save taxpayers money. This bipartisan legislation quickly gathered the support of nearly two dozen lawmakers.

Colvin's response came after Braley wrote the SSA Commissioner asking her to provide a series of answers about the proposed cuts, including whether an analysis of cost savings has been done and if public input was solicited prior to the proposed cuts. Braley also sought information from Colvin on how Iowans seeking these services would be informed of cuts.

In June, Braley joined a Congressional push to prevent the elimination of the SSA services in a letter to the head of the SSA, noting that it's vital that seniors be able to receive these services in person especially given that telephone wait times for SSA services have risen drastically in the last year, and that many seniors lack internet access.

The report can be found online HERE: