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Priority I: Enhanced Air Quality

1. Initiative 1: Ensure that all federal and state air quality standards are being achieved.
   • Issue permits; conduct inspections, compliance activities, and air monitoring; and track air quality trends.
   • Assess the status of air quality through data collection, modeling and analysis.
2. Initiative 2: Implement air pollution control strategies to reduce emissions to assist in achieving air quality goals.
   • Reduce power plant emissions by establishing requirements necessary to meet federal and state standards.
   • Promote clean coal technologies and encourage the development of new clean coal energy plants.
3. Initiative 3: Reduce emissions from mobile sources (i.e., transportation) that impact air quality in the State.
   • Implement Illinois' Drive Green Initiative to reduce mobile source emissions:
     • Reduce emissions from diesel school buses.
     • Educate school administrators and bus drivers about reducing emissions from diesel school buses.
     • Encourage use of pollution control retrofit devices, construction equipment on IDOT projects, and other diesel vehicles.
     • Promote clean burning alternate fuels.
4. Initiative 4: Implement an improved vehicle emission test program in nonattainment areas.
   • Solicit bids and hire a contractor for the new vehicle emissions test program.
   • Coordinate with the Secretary of State to change the motorist testing notification and enforcement mechanisms.
   • Design, develop, implement, and maintain an effective and efficient vehicle emissions testing program.
   • Develop and effective public information program to educate motorists about changes in the testing program.
5. Initiative 5: Participate in Midwest Governors Association Air Initiative.
   • Continue dialogue with other states on improving air quality in the Midwest by reducing emissions from power plants and other targeted sources.
   • Work collectively with other states toward achieving state and regional air quality goals.

Priority II: Reduced Contamination Of The Land Through Prevention And Cleanup

6. Initiative 6: Ensure that hazardous and nonhazardous wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner.
   • Review and evaluate permit applications for hazardous, non-hazardous and special waste management facilities.
   • Complete closure of all inactive waste management units.
   • Review permitted groundwater monitoring programs, interpret groundwater standards, and offer assistance concerning impacts on groundwater.
   • Perform compliance inspections at waste generating facilities.
7. Initiative 7: Encourage the recycling and recovery of waste materials.
   • Oversee a cleanup program for used tires.
   • Administer household hazardous waste collection programs with local governments and waste collections with K-12 schools.
   • Seek authority to allow reuse of waste in innovative non-regulated ways.
   • Implement Responsible Ideas for Disposal (RID).
8. Initiative 8: Clean up sites with contaminated land and groundwater.
   • Investigate, reduce, eliminate, and manage impacts of contaminated land and contaminated groundwater.
   • Provide opportunities for the cleanup and reuse of brownfields.
   • Clean up abandoned landfills.
   • Pursue insurance recovery for abandoned waste sites; target sites to be referred to the Attorney General.
   • Explore remediation of abandoned schools with environmental hazards.
   • Implement cleanup of Chicago Cluster Sites.

Priority III: Clean And Safe Water

9. Initiative 9: Implement programs to sustain beneficial uses of streams, lakes, and groundwater
   • Protect and maintain existing high quality waters.
   • Eliminate use impairments in Illinois waters with identified problems.
   • By 2009, reduce listed impairments due to nonpoint source pollution by 30% in seven watersheds (12HUC size).
   • Promote nutrient management practices.
   • Work toward science-based standards (nutrients, bacteria, dissolved oxygen, sulfate) and more accurate use classifications.
   • Address non-continuous but recurring pollutant discharges related to wet weather conditions.
   • Develop a permit program for surface-discharging septic systems.
   • Continue SRF assistance to communities seeking to achieve or maintain NPDES compliance.
   • Increase awareness of groundwater contamination, non-degradation standards, wellhead protection, source water protection through outreach and education
10. Initiative 10: Ensure that public water supply systems provide water that is consistently safe to drink.
    • Reduce the population served by community water supplies with violations of drinking water standards to less than 5% by 2005.
    • Work toward enhancing rules for groundwater protection, source water protection, and wellhead protection areas.
    • Target SRF resources to assure compliance with new and existing drinking water standards.
11. Initiative 11: Protect and restore Lake Michigan.
    • Maintain the percentage of open shoreline miles in Good condition.
    • Assist with remediation of Waukegan Harbor.
    • Continue work at contaminated Cluster Sites in Lake Calumet area.
12. Initiative 12: Reduce mercury in the Illinois environment.
    • Seek adoption of and implement mercury reduction requirements from Illinois power plants.
    • Implement reduction programs, including capture and disposal of mercury vehicle switches and mercury thermostat recycling program.
    • Identify and assess current levels of mercury loading to Illinois water environment and assess trends in fish tissue.
13. Initiative 13: Move from Facility Planning to watershed protection.
    • Develop 25 TMDLs for waters that fail to meet the uses for which they have been designated.
    • Align IEPA program activities on a watershed basis.
    • Pilot a watershed management approach in the Kishwaukee and Green River watersheds.
    • Foster local watershed management planning.
14. Initiative 14: Assist with statewide water quantity planning.
    • Provide technical assistance to IDNR and regional planning groups.
    • Inform stakeholders of the impacts of water quantity on water quality and vice versa.

Priority IV: Good Information About Environmental Conditions To Educate The Public And Guide Use Of Resources

15. Initiative 15: Provide improved information on contamination that may affect well water.
    • Conduct outreach with IDPH to encourage well water testing.
    • Develop and implement a plan to further enhance outreach efforts to notify water supply well owners of potential contamination risks.
16. Initiative 16: Improve communications internally and externally.
    • Improve user-friendliness and content management of Agency web site.
    • Upgrade and streamline publications.
    • Maintain customer service survey for vehicle emissions test program.
17. Initiative 17: Encourage voluntary actions to improve the environment.
    • Expand voluntary education and outreach programs that encourage individual actions to improve air quality in the Chicago and metro East St. Louis areas.
    • Provide environmental education programs for young people.
    • Provide grants to support the work of volunteers to monitor lakes, clean up rivers and lakes, and other environmental actions.
    • Participate in ABCs of Asthma Program.
18. Initiative 18: Promote Environmental Equity
    • Complete and implement the Environmental Justice public participation policy.
    • Implement internal policy for responding to Environmental Justice complaints.
19. Initiative 19: Implement the "Right-to-Know" law to notify citizens when contamination in soil or groundwater poses a health threat.
    • Identify sites that pose a localized health risk.
    • Ensure that the surrounding communities are notified of the risk and provided information on how to mitigate the risk.

Priority V: Innovative Programs That Promote Economic Development And Benefit The Environment

20. Initiative 20: Support the Governor's Economic Development Plan.
    • Provide timely information to DCEO and the Governor's Office concerning water infrastructure loans and municipal brownfields grants.
    • Participate in the River Edge Redevelopment Initiative pilot program in Aurora and East St. Louis.
21. Initiative 21: Promote new "green" activities, especially at schools, to reduce costs and pollution.
    • Provide energy efficiency and pollution prevention assessments at schools.
    • Provide green procurement and IAQ training.
    • Give Clean School Bus grants.
    • Fund Green School Coordinators and Green School projects.
    • Collect and properly dispose of chemicals from schools.
22. Initiative 22: Maximize the use of electronic capabilities
    • Replicate the success of the e-DMR in other areas.
    • Develop a secure electronic reporting system for NPDES permittees to report Annual Fiscal Reports and Semi-annual Sludge Management Reports
23. Initiative 23: Add to the environmental benefits of settlements by using Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs).
    • Maintain a "SEP bank" of potential projects with stakeholder input.
    • Fund SEP ideas through appropriate settlements to meet community environmental needs.
24. Initiative 24: Facilitate the use of advanced ethanol production technologies.
    • Create an interagency working group to provide coordinated assistance to potential ethanol producers.
    • Provide information and incentives for new ethanol plants to incorporate best practices.
    • Facilitate the construction of a model ethanol plant in Illinois with high net energy yield and low environmental impacts.
25. Initiative 25: Streamline permitting processes.
    • Identify activities that should be exempted from permitting requirements.
    • Develop a process to expedite permitting of pollution control equipment.
    • Identify and implement means to expedite final action on ethanol facility permit applications.
26. Initiative 26: Help livestock producers achieve and maintain compliance with environmental laws.
    • Conduct site visits to provide technical assistance.
27. Initiative 27: Encourage voluntary actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to improve the environment and the economy.
    • Implement the Illinois Conservation and Climate Initiative.
    • Develop a Midwest Greenhouse Gas Registry in cooperation with the Lake Michigan Air Directors' Consortium.