2-Feb-20 – Faced with changes to national environmental policies it says would be bad for the environment, Friends of the Chicago River is asking that a period of public comment on the proposed changes be extended and that more public hearings be held.

The group wants the Federal Council on Environmental Quality to take comments for another 120 days. Otherwise, the public will have until March 10 to comment on proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act.

“The Trump administration proposes weakening NEPA in a number of ways,” wrote Friends of the Chicago River in its newsletter on Saturday. “The changes will prevent agencies from considering how projects might cumulatively affect the climate crisis. Polluters could use their own consultants to conduct environmental analysis. The window for environmental review would be sped up. Less weight would be given to public comments. And fewer projects would require review. These changes are an attempt to placate the oil, gas, and construction industries.”

Enacted in 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act promotes enhancement of the environment and has been the model of environmental policies enacted by more than 100 other nations. Friends of the Chicago River points out that the Act requires proposed major federal projects such as highways and pipelines to be studied for their effects on air, land, water, and wildlife quality.

Friends of the Chicago River says it is part of a Midwest coalition of more than 50 environmental groups “fighting back” at what it says is an “assault by the Trump administration.”

“We’ve already seen how the climate crisis-linked intensity of storms is contributing to sewer systems being overwhelmed, resulting in combined sewer overflows of untreated sewage into the Chicago River system,” said Margaret Frisbie (left), executive director of Friends of the Chicago River.

“Dumbing down protections and hiding our heads in the sand about how humans impact climate change will only expose us to more consequences of this very real threat to the planet and all its inhabitants,” she said.

The groups, which include Alliance for the Great Lakes and Illinois Environmental Council, also want the federal government to hold additional in-person public hearings on the proposed changes.