Environmental Leaders Rally in Support of Public Transportation
CHICAGO — The region’s top environmental leaders gathered this morning at the Environmental Law & Policy Center to speak out on the importance of public transportation and called upon Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois General Assembly to forge a long-term solution to the pending transit crisis. The group stressed that an investment in public transportation now would help to mitigate the impacts of global warming over the coming decade; and that a failure to invest would lead to dire environmental consequences in Northeastern Illinois.
“A major metropolitan region such as Northeastern Illinois deserves a vibrant, efficient and convenient transit system,” said Shannon Fisk, Staff Attorney with the Midwest Office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Instead, service cutbacks are threatening to bring more congested roads, longer work commutes, and dirtier air for everybody in the region. The General Assembly and the Governor should approve Representative Hamos’ plan to provide additional investment in CTA, Metra, and Pace, and to implement common sense reforms at the Regional Transit Authority.”
The group, which included the Delta Institute, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), Congress for New Urbanism, Illinois PIRG, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Openlands Project, American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, and other environmental organizations signed a petition declaring their support for increased funding for public transportation. The petition was delivered to Governor Blagojevich as well as party leaders in the General Assembly, which has until July 1st to take action on the $226 million deficit faced by the CTA, Metra, and Pace.
“The Governor has publicly stated that Illinois should cut the production of greenhouse gasses to 1990 levels by 2020,” Scott Bernstein, President of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, reminded the group. “Since motor vehicles alone account for more than one third of greenhouse gasses, there is simply no way to achieve that kind goal without strong regional transit. Transit will be the backbone of any successful climate change strategy in Illinois.”
While public transportation’s benefits to the environment were stressed, it was also argued that such benefits go hand in hand with transit’s role in improving our economic and public health. “A strong public transportation system is critical to reducing global warming pollution,” explained Joe Shacter, senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “Plus, when transit use goes up people drive less, leading to improved air quality, fewer respiratory illnesses, and increased household savings.”
“No one wants the transit agencies to cut services or raise fares,” said Anna Frostic, Environmental Health Advocate with the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. “The Governor and General Assembly must find a long-term solution to transit funding, otherwise the entire state will feel the impact in our pocketbooks, congested roads and the air we breathe for decades to come.”
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