State of Illinois
92nd General Assembly
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92_HR0924

 
                                              LRB9216900RHrhA

 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, Expansion and improvement  of  the  Northeastern
 3    Illinois  region's  aviation capacity has been the subject of
 4    debate for over 25 years; and

 5        WHEREAS, On December 5, 2001, Mayor Richard M. Daley  and
 6    Governor  George  Ryan reached an agreement that will provide
 7    for, among other items, the expansion of O'Hare International
 8    Airport; and

 9        WHEREAS, O'Hare was  sited  and  built  at  a  time  when
10    concerns  over  environment  and  public health were far less
11    than they are today; and

12        WHEREAS,  The   existing   airport   has   virtually   no
13    environmental  buffer  between  the  airport  and the densely
14    populated communities surrounding O'Hare; and

15        WHEREAS, A study that was conducted in August  2000,  The
16    Preliminary   Study  and  Analysis  of  Toxic  Air  Pollution
17    Emissions From O'Hare International Airport and the Resultant
18    Health  Risk  Caused  By  Those  Emissions   in   Surrounding
19    Residential  Communities,  found  that  current operations at
20    O'Hare created levels of toxic air  pollution  in  excess  of
21    federal  cancer  risk  guidelines in 98 downwind communities;
22    and

23        WHEREAS, The same study  concluded  that  the  levels  of
24    toxic  air  pollution  would  only  increase  if  O'Hare  was
25    expanded; and

26        WHEREAS,  Experts  have  said the mandated runway plan is
27    unsafe and also  express  concerns  about  communication  and
28    airspace overload; and

29        WHEREAS,  Constructing  new  runways  at O'Hare will have
30    significantly  harmful  impacts  on  communities,   including
 
                            -2-               LRB9216900RHrhA
 1    neighborhoods,  schools, businesses and homes, because of the
 2    airport and aircraft's extraordinary  amounts  and  types  of
 3    noise,  water,  ground  and  toxic  air  pollution,  property
 4    takings,  tax  base  losses and other quality of life issues;
 5    and

 6        WHEREAS, S.2039, the National Aviation Capacity Expansion
 7    Act, which has been introduced in the United  States  Senate,
 8    will  codify  the  O'Hare  Expansion  plan agreed to by Mayor
 9    Richard M. Daley and Governor George Ryan  and  will  prevent
10    any  future  Illinois  Governor from altering or halting this
11    expansion plan; and

12        WHEREAS, The passage of the  National  Aviation  Capacity
13    Expansion Act would be a serious erosion of states rights and
14    will  set  a new precedent in the relationship between states
15    and the federal government; therefore, be it

16        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVE   OF   THE
17    NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
18    we  urge  the  members  of the United States Congress to vote
19    against S. 2039, the  National  Aviation  Capacity  Expansion
20    Act; and be it further

21        RESOLVED,  That  suitable  copies  of  this resolution be
22    presented  to  each  member  of  the  Illinois  congressional
23    delegation.

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