| July 2022 |
By Joyce Blumenshine
On June 24th the Illinois Department of Natural Resources issued a notice regarding their second draft posting of what is referred to as the “Banner Rules”. These state regulations are in part the result of decades of citizen opposition to strip mining in the river bottom lands east and south of the village of Banner, Fulton County. The Banner Rules are the result of years of litigation regarding the IDNR approved permit for strip mining over 600 acres between the Banner Marsh State Fish and Wildlife Area and the Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, along the Illinois River floodplain.
On March 24, 2014, the Circuit Court of Sangamon County issued a court order directing IDNR to enact a series of clarifications and changes to the existing Illinois Administrative Code, coal mining regulations. These changes were the result of litigation conducted by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Environmental Bureau Chief Tom Davis, in what was a cornerstone battle regarding what many viewed as flagrant abuses in the IDNR review and approval of the Banner strip mine permit application and entrenched IDNR permitting processes.
The Banner Rules were intended to clarify procedures in the public interest and close some loopholes IDNR and coal mine companies had utilized for decades to the advantage of the mining industry. IDNR first asked for stakeholder comments on the Banner Rules in August, 2015. Now only about seven years later, IDNR has posted a revised proposal and comments must be submitted within 30 days. Is justice delayed justice denied? Public citizens who have attempted to challenge other IDNR coal mine permit approvals in the intervening seven years would say yes. A careful review of the current proposed wording must be done.