Conscious Choice: Prison on the Prairie

July 1998 | News of the Earth

Prison on the Prairie

by Ben Lilliston

The top of Illinois’ Hanover Bluffs offers a spectacular view of the Mississippi River basin. The Bluffs lie on the eastern rim of a larger ecosystem that includes Mississippi River bottomland and oak savanna, upland sand prairies, forest, and lake sloughs. Of the 385 miles of the Mississippi River that run along the Illinois border, this is the only 10 miles of uninterrupted natural ecosystem.

Unfortunately, this rare natural jewel of Illinois has caught the eye of Governor Jim Edgar and the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC). On April 2, Edgar announced that a new maximum security prison would be built in the rare sand bar prairie that rests in the western shadow of the Hanover Bluffs — a move that will have dramatic and devastating effects on the surrounding natural system. The state hopes to break ground on the prison early this fall.

The site selected by Edgar is located right in the middle of what is considered the Midwest’s largest sand prairie, a pivotal part of this diverse ecosystem which hosts over 40 endangered and threatened species — including bald eagles, cormorants, great egrets, river otters and bobcats. According to an analysis by scientists at the Center for Biodiversity at the Illinois Natural History Survey, the prison site is part of the most extensive remaining area of tallgrass savanna and prairie in the state of Illinois.

The siting of the new prison was made possible by the closing down of the Savanna Army Depot, which owns land that extends between the Bluffs and the Mississippi River. The Depot has been used for munitions storage since around the turn of the century, and is scheduled to be decommissioned by the year 2000. On the Depot’s south side is an industrial park which many believe would be a cheaper and far less environmentally damaging site for the new prison.

"We’re destroying one of the few remaining fragments of our native landscape," says Harry Drucker, president of Friends of the Depot, a local advocacy group. "We realize the prison is needed, but there are alternative sites on the Depot that should be considered. Building anything on a prairie is a bad idea, and we are urging the Governor to do something about it."

In a letter to Edgar, the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission expressed concern that "the placement of a correctional facility at this site would destroy protected species and may negatively impact Hanover Bluff Nature Preserve, thus destroying a portion of our rare and important natural heritage." The Commission also pointed out that Hanover Bluff Nature Preserve is a 362-acre State Nature Preserve and protected under the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act.

The $100 million maximum security prison will be the state’s first such prison since 1925. Just last year, the state DOC held hearings in over eight communities (including the Depot) around the state competing for a new minimum security prison. But no hearings were held for the maximum security prison.

The DOC’s decision to site the prison in the Depot caught even those who support a prison offguard. Jo Daviess County Board Chair Judy Gratton told the Quad-City Times, "I think at some point it would have been nice to be asked our opinion in something that has such tremendous impact."

The Governor boasts that the prison will pump more than $25 million annually into the economy and employ approximately 465 people. This growth is designed to offset the 450 jobs and $16 million in payroll the area will lose when the Savanna Army Depot ceases operations.

But this is not the stereotypical jobs vs. the environment debate. There is little objection by local environmental activists about the idea of locating a prison on the Depot. The objection revolves around the location of the prison within an extremely rare and fragile ecosystem. In deciding on the prison’s current site location, the DOC chose to ignore several state agencies and commissions which have documented the natural value of the Depot.

According to a November 1997 study by the Illinois Natural History Survey, "it is clear that the Savanna Army Depot contains an extremely significant proportion of Grade C sand prairie, sand savanna, and sand forest in Illinois and indeed North America."

In 1996, Edgar’s own Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) wrote that the Depot’s "combination of large, contiguous acreages of prairie and savanna habitat; high concentrations of endangered resources; and healthly populations of grassland wildlife, especially birds, provide an opportunity for applying conservation biology that is of a mid-continental significance."

An Environmental Impact Statement commissioned by the Army to evaluate the Depot noted that the land has statewide significance in four areas: 1) High Quality Natural Area; 2) Provides Endangered Species Habitat; 3) Unique Natural Area; 4) Outstanding Aquatic Resource.

The land is considered so ecologically valuable that the federal Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) several years ago asked that 11,400 acres of the Savanna Depot be transferred to its jurisdiction, including the site for the prison. The Local Redevelopment Authority (lra), in charge of decommissioning the Depot, refused to turn over that much land and retained control of the potential prison site.

In addition, environmental groups believe that the LRA/DOC’s decision to site the prison in the Savanna prairie ignores several environmental protection laws including Section 17 of the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act, which clearly provides that "All public agencies shall recognize that the protection of nature preserves, buffer areas, and registered areas is the public policy of the State and shall avoid the planning of any action that would adversely affect them."

Particularly frustrating to environmentalists is that a far superior prison site exists within the Depot. The alternative site, known as Area H, is near the more industrialized south entrance of the Depot.

The DOC and LRA argue that Area H’s environmental clean-up could delay the construction of the prison for up to two years. There is some concern about environmental contaminants, and the site is eligible for Superfund clean-up. However, these contaminated sites must be cleaned up by the Army anyway. If anything, the promise of a prison would expedite the clean-up process.

In addition, when considering other additional costs to taxpayers, the Area H site makes even more sense. To build and maintain the necessary utilities and infrastructure for the prairie site is excessive — costing taxpayers an estimated $3.8 million just in utilities alone. Other costs include improving and paving roads, setting up water and sewer systems, and upgrading a railroad crossing. It is unclear which government agency — federal, state, county — will pay for these infrastructure costs. The Area H site already has these necessary infrastructure systems in place.

The tricky political aspect of siting the prison in the Savanna Depot is that the border of two counties runs right through the middle of it. The prairie site is in Jo Daviess County, while Area H is located in Carroll County. In the scenario proposed by the DOC, citizens of Jo Daviess County will have to pay for infrastructure costs for the prison, but Carroll County will reap much of the economic benefits, since most of the jobs will come from that county.

It is not surprising that many Jo Daviess County residents object to the prison site. A recent Jo Daviess County survey of residents found that 92 percent believe that scenic areas and agriculturally productive land should be preserved. This is a county with a booming tourist industry generating millions of dollars a year, and it already has a low 3.7 percent unemployment rate.

Several towns, including the City of Galena, which attracts over one million visitors a year, are concerned about how the prison might affect tourism. The Galena City Council adopted a statement in opposition to the prison. And Hanover, the city closest to the prison, also voted to oppose the prison.

Left unexplored by the LRA was how the natural beauty of the region, including the Depot prairie, might stimulate further economic growth. A study by Friends of the Depot found that by properly developing the natural areas of the Depot, activities like biking, hiking, fishing, hunting, canoeing, bird watching and resort and home development could bring additional millions of dollars to the region.

But many local residents view the prison as a done deal. This is partly due to the secretive manner in which the LRA and the Edgar Administration moved forward to site the prison. There was a decision not to hold hearings on a maximum security prison, and now the DOC and the LRA are trying to rush construction of the prison before opposition can be mobilized.

Ultimately, the decision to move the location of the prison off of the prairie will rest with Governor Edgar. Will the prison on the prairie be his environmental legacy — a subject of ridicule by Hanover Bluffs visitors for years to come? Many environmental groups, including the Nature Conservancy, Openlands Project, Illinois Sierra Club, Save the Prairie Society, and Northwest Illinois Prairie Enthusiasts, have asked Edgar to reconsider his decision on siting the prison.

But it is absolutely critical that Edgar hear from individual citizens around the state. This is our public land, and we should have a say on how it is used. Tell Governor Edgar to move the prison off the prairie by writing him a letter at: Hon. Jim Edgar, Attn: Erica Mair, 207 State House, Springfield, IL 62706.

Clinton Pesticide Record Falls Flat
Five years after the Clinton Administration promised a bold initiative to reduce pesticide use and make children’s health the top priority in federal pesticide regulation, the government has done little or nothing to reduce toxic pesticide use, pesticide residues in food, or pesticide contamination of drinking water, according to a new report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

"Nearly every trend in pesticide use and exposure shows that things have gotten worse since 1993," said Kenneth A Cook, president of EWG and a principal author of the research group’s latest report, Same As It Ever Was.... "Overall, government policy during the Clinton-Gore Administration has strongly favored the interests of pesticide companies over children."

In June 1993, the Administration reaped laudatory headlines and praise from environmental and public health groups by announcing "a dramatic shift" in policy, touted by the White House as "a landmark in food safety" and "a watershed in the history of pesticide use." But EWG’s analysis found:

• Pesticide use has increased steadily over the past five years and could reach near-record levels by 2000, yet the government still has no plan for use reduction, despite its 1993 pledge. The Administration has removed only one pesticide from the market (to protect farm workers), and in fact has allowed a record number of new pesticides into commerce. Both the Reagan and Bush Administrations took more aggressive action against hazardous pesticides — the Reagan Administration banned twelve pesticides during its tenure in office; the Bush Administration banned four.

• Levels of carcinogenic pesticides found in fruits and vegetables heavily consumed by children increased between 1993 and 1996 (latest available data), and levels of neurotoxic and hormone-disrupting pesticides have held steady.

• Water supplies in thousands of communities remain contaminated with pesticides, and a federal plan to regulate the most common contaminant — the cancer-causing weed-killer atrazine — is dead in the water.

U.S. Taxpayers Funding Climate Change Through Oil Subsidies
While the U.S. government pressures developing nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, a report released today by Greenpeace reveals that U.S. taxpayers are heavily subsidizing the industry most responsible for climate change. The report, "Fueling Global Warning: Federal Subsidies to Oil in the United States," comes as U.S. negotiators in Bonn, Germany continue international talks on implementing the Kyoto climate treaty.

The study, by Industrial Economics, Inc., an economics and policy consulting group, found that the U.S. government provided up to $11.9 billion in subsidies to the oil industry in 1995. This excludes the cost of defending Persian Gulf oil supplies. If that cost were included, the figure would rise to as high as $35.2 billion.

"Subsidies to oil are simply too large to be ignored as the world tries to shape a global climate change strategy and address the many competing needs for scarce government funds," wrote authors Doug Koplow and Aaron Martin.

Among the major subsidies to the oil industry analyzed in the report are: the full cost to maintain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (a stockpile of oil in case of disruption to imports) at $5.4 billion; tax breaks to domestic oil exploration and production at $2.3 billion; and support for oil-related exports and foreign production at $1.6 billion.

World Opinion Supports Stronger Environmental Laws.
The largest-ever international survey of public opinion on the environment found that people want environmental laws with sharper teeth. The survey, released in early June for the World Environment Day, found that majorities in 28 of the 30 countries surveyed believe environmental laws currently applied in their country "don’t go far enough." The percentages of people who agreed with this statement ranged from 91 percent in Greece to 54 percent in India.

"In the face of rising environmental concerns and dissatisfaction with pollution laws, it will be increasingly difficult for government and industry leaders to continue to emphasize voluntary corporate environmental targets," says Doug Miller, president of Environics International Ltd., who coordinated the survey.

The survey also found that 26 out of 30 countries believe strong action is needed immediately to reduce human impacts on climate. In comparisons to 1997 responses to a similar survey, it appears that concerns about climate change are increasing.

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