Clean Water - Illinois

E-Mail:

dcdobmeyer@aol.com

October 19, 2004

Chairman Phil Novak

Illinois Pollution Control Board

State of Illinois

Suite 11-500

100 W. Randolph

Chicago, IL 60601

Dear Chairman Novak:

We are a diverse group of organizations that champion different environmental issues. However,

our respective missions remain the same: to leave the environment better than we found it. In the

interest of preserving the environmental landscape of Illinois, we would like to express our

disappointment in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s (IEPA) radium water quality

standards proposal. As we understand it, the IEPA is proposing to allow unhealthy levels of

radium in water for human consumption and a virtually unlimited amount of radium, a cancer

causing agent, to be discharged into our rivers, streams and lakes.

The proposed rule change raises many serious concerns. Lowering the water quality standards

would set a dangerous precedent as it would significantly weaken the state’s regulatory process

paving the way for polluters to act without concern. Allowing more radium would contribute to

the already burgeoning pollution in the waterways which amplifies the threat to animal and plant

life in our rivers, lakes and streams. Most importantly, relaxing state standards puts the residents

of Illinois at risk of developing cancer and other serious diseases.

The citizens of Illinois deserve to know why the IEPA is aggressively pursuing a rule change that

compromises environmental security and public health. This goes against all progressive

environmental thinking and we have yet to hear of a compelling public interest rationale for

weakening the standards that keep our waterways clean. We are calling on state leaders and

policymakers to work in cooperation to uphold the current water quality regulations.

We respectfully request the board deny this rule change. Cleaning the drinking water by dirtying

the rivers, streams and lakes is a short-sighted solution that will cause irreversible damage in the

future.

ELECTRONICALLY FILED

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Sincerely,

Doug Dobmeyer

Dave Lloyd, Volunteer Steward

Clean Water – Illinois

Des Plaines River Valley Restoration Project

773/338-9825

708/485-2296

Nancy Wedow

Marilyn F. Campbell

Conservation Chair

Executive Director

Prairie Woods Audubon Society

Illinois Audubon Society

847/622-5321

217/446-5085

R04-21, RECEIVED @ CLERK'S OFFICE 10/19/04