Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as it’s formally known, allocates more than $7 billion nationally for environmental conservation and cleanup programs: about $4 billion to upgrade wastewater treatment systems, $2 billion to improve drinking water infrastructure, and $1 billion more to clean up hazardous waste, cut diesel emissions from bus fleets and equipment, redevelop brownfields, and remove polluting underground storage tanks. Billions more will be spent on energy conservation and development.
· $179 million for wastewater treatment projects;
Carson said the IEPA has received the first round of paperwork for about 180 wastewater funding requests and another 200 for drinking water. It already had an ongoing list of brownfields and tank removal projects that need funding—the budget for the state’s remediation programs have been cut in the last few years—but will also be accepting additional applications. The diesel money will be funneled to school districts, colleges and universities, nonprofits, and small businesses aiming to cut the emissions of their fleets and industrial equipment.
