Courtesy of Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski
The Cook County Board of Commissioners has begun several programs geared to improve the environment and increase sustainability across the County. My recent efforts on the Board have focused on three major areas: obtaining a West Suburban Brownfield assessment grant, natural disaster mitigation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
West Suburban Brownfield Assessment Grant
Several communities in the Western suburbs are home to vacant or abandoned industrial sites that were identified as Brownfield’s in desperate need of environmental cleanup. The contamination at these sites can cause asthma, elevated lead levels in children and low birth weight. Brownfields make our communities unhealthy to people and inhibit businesses from investing. In response to these environmental problems, my office along with Deborah Stone of the Cook County Department of Environmental Control partnered with the villages of Bellwood, Franklin Park, Forest Park, Maywood, Melrose Park, Northlake and Schiller Park in seeking a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to do environmental assessment and remediation. The grant has been approved by the USEPA and was accepted at the most recent County Board meeting.
This grant will be the first grant of its kind in 20 years and will total a $600,000.00 investment in our communities. With this thorough assessment, we will be in a position to target these sites for cleanup. Clean and green communities not only improve our health, but also attract businesses that bring with them the jobs and investment our County needs.
Hazard Mitigation Plan
As Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Emergency Management, I worked with President Preckwinkle and Executive Director Michael Masters from the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to create and implement the Cook County Hazard Mitigation Plan. The HMP allows the County to partner with local municipalities to support emergency preparedness and to improve response and recovery so as to reduce losses from natural disasters. The HMP uses federal funds and applies FEMA planning requirements such as the National Flood Insurance Program. After recent flooding, many towns in the 16th District were able to take advantage of these federal funds to mitigate damage caused by the flooding. Additionally, there are more projects through the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in the pipeline to make sure that future flooding does not result in the extensive damage that recently affected our communities.
Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction
As our planet’s climate changes and world temperatures rise, we all have to do our part to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. At the County level, the Sustainability Advisory Council conducted a study and offered several recommendations which the County is implementing now. The main goal is to reduce the County’s greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. The County has entered into Guaranteed Energy Performance Contracts with various engineering companies to reduce the emissions at County buildings. Since the County implemented these contracts, emissions levels are reduced far ahead of schedule.
The Future
Cook County will continue to set high standards on improving efforts to make our county greener and more sustainable for our children and grandchildren. I will continue to look for new ways to make the 16th District an even better place to live, work and invest.
Jeffrey Tobolski is the Cook County Commissioner for the 16th District which includes all or part of Berwyn, Cicero, Franklin Park, Forest View, Maywood, McCook, Hodgkins, Lyons, Summit, LaGrange, Northlake, Westchester, Stone Park, Berkeley, Hillside, Melrose Park, Brookfield, Riverside, North Riverside, Stickney and Chicago.
