HR0394 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0394 LRB101 12526 ALS 60843 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed encompasses 10.2 percent of the State and includes all or parts of 22 counties; and

WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed starts in Champaign County and ends at the Mississippi River in Randolph County; and

WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed includes 13 House Districts and eight Senate Districts of the Illinois General Assembly; and

WHEREAS, Kaskaskia Watershed has three authorized Corps projects, Lake Shelbyville, Carlyle Lake, and the Kaskaskia Navigation Project; and

WHEREAS, The Corps projects generate 7.4 million visitors and over $167.2 million in visitor spending; and

WHEREAS, An estimated 557,837 people are served by public water from the Corps project in the watershed; and

WHEREAS, The Kaskaskia River provides water for cooling purposes to three power plants, one being in the top five power producing-plants in the world; and

WHEREAS, The Kaskaskia River is degrading by a headcut that travels at a rate of one mile per year; and

WHEREAS, Damages induced by headcutting result in increased dredging, loss of private property, and significant ecosystem degradation to the riverine environment; the largest contiguous stand of bottomland hardwood forest in the State of Illinois is also affected; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress established the Kaskaskia Watershed Restoration Act in 2007 and authorized $20,000,000 for critical projects after a Comprehensive Plan is developed; and

WHEREAS, In 2014, the Army Corps of Engineers funded the Watershed Comprehensive Plan with $1.5 million in federal funds with a requirement of a 50 percent match of non-federal funds; and

WHEREAS, The Comprehensive Plan is stalled due to the lack of financial support from the State of Illinois; the remaining $300,000 in non-federal funds is needed to complete the plan and to leverage $20,000,000 in federal funds; and

WHEREAS, Time is of the essence in that the federal funds will be reprogrammed to other states; failure to move forward will eliminate the Kaskaskia Watershed from consideration in the future; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge all four caucuses and the Governor to consider the Kaskaskia Watershed Comprehensive Plan when creating the upcoming fiscal year budget.