Last fall the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago made national news when it announced its latest environmental initiative: the purchase of 30 electric cars that would be used to transport maintenance, engineering, and security staff around some of the district’s large treatment facilities. It was the single biggest acquisition of electric cars by any American governmental entity. “The District prides itself on protecting the environment and utilizing our resources in the best public interest,” board president Terry O’Brien said in a press release accompanying the announcement.
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But for years Avila, O’Brien, their colleagues on the board, and dozens of other MWRD employees have been enjoying taxpayer-paid perks that dramatically increase the district’s carbon footprint. On top of an annual salary of between $50,000 and $80,000 for a part-time job, each commissioner enjoys the unlimited use of a district-supplied car. And none of them is driving an environmentally friendly model.
One commissioner drives a Chrysler 300C, which gets 15-22 miles per gallon and according to the federal government produces about ten tons of carbon a year. Several others drive Ford Crown Victorias, which have about the same fuel efficiency, and two use Ford Explorer SUVs, which get even worse mileage and yield more greenhouse gases.
Some commissioners don’t keep the kind of public schedule that Avila does, and others simply don’t use their district-owned cars as much. Shore put just 4,481 miles on her 2004 Crown Vic.
Majewski says she uses her car—a sporty 2006 Chrysler 300C—to commute to the district’s downtown office from her home in the south suburbs. “This way I don’t have to make decisions about [buying] a car,” she says. “I’m grateful for it. I think it’s a wonderful perk.”
The district doesn’t maintain logs of the commissioners’ trips or destinations, and while they do submit monthly mileage and vehicle expense reports, they’re all filled out by a single staffer who works in the district garage downtown. Cook and some of the commissioners say this staffer collects their gas receipts and checks their odometers for them.
Jack Darin, director of the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club, says the district could probably get state subsidies to help convert to a hybrid fleet. “It’s very important symbolically—we’re in a time where global warming is the challenge of our generation, and all of our public agencies, especially those involved with environmental protection, should be models,” he said. “And I think choosing more efficient cars is smart fiscally.”
