EPA

The three wells to be used for carbon sequestration are just inside the eastern border of McLean County and about 5 miles west of Gibson City. Environmental advocates say that's too close to a fresh water source which replenishes the Mahomet Aquifer.

The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District will fix the longstanding bad water situation in the Colonial Meadows subdivision on the far east side of Bloomington. The water reclamation district also will spend $2 million on a new exhibit at the Children's Discovery Museum. The district board has approved borrowing up to $65 million. And BNWRD will probably raise its property tax rate to the maximum allowed.

Water and sewer are the most basic things a city typically provides. Through a complicated cluster of circumstances, neither of those services is dependable in a subdivision on the east side of Bloomington. And it's not at all clear how that will change.

The Ecology Action Center's executive director received a letter from the EPA notifying him of the grant cancellation — with no clear reason why.

Although the Trump Administration rescinded a memo announcing a freeze on federal allocations Wednesday, the head of the nonprofit Ecology Action Center in Normal says its grant funding is still jeopardized by an earlier executive order.

The Town of Normal is making progress on an experimental project to remove ammonia from town water by using bacteria.

A potential huge cost looms for drinking water producers — so-called forever chemicals or PFAS. Bloomington and Normal water departments expect regulation will eventually require removal of PFAS.

The organization's biofuels director says a new vehicle emissions rule will harm the prospects of corn ethanol, and with it the wider economy. The EPA says the new rules are important for reducing poisonous and climate-altering air pollution.

Unit 5 schools will get almost $1.1 million to buy five electric school buses, with the funding coming from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate Competition.

You may have noticed your sewer use fees went up in Bloomington-Normal this year. They rose 15%. Bloomington- Normal Water Reclamation District Executive Director Tim Ervin said that’s about $2 per month for the average homeowner. And there will be several more years of double-digit percentage increases.