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The new coffeehouse space at Strawberry Fields was alive with civic activity
Thursday night. Approximately 60 people from Champaign, Urbana and as far
as Decatur gathered to discuss the implications of Tuesday's decision
by the Illinois Commerce Commission
to delay a decision on the proposed Illinois Power (now owned by
Dynegy, Inc) vegetation management
tariff in order to hold legal public hearings on the matter.
Urbana alderwoman Laura Huth (D-5th ward) facilitated at the meeting.
Carolyn Kearns (D-4th ward) and Esther Patt (D-1st ward) were also in
attendance.
Tuesday's unanimous decision by the five ICC commissioners to hold public
hearings has started the legal preparations for those hearings.
In the next few days, the ICC will assign an official docket number to
the case and appoint a hearing officer.
Approximately three weeks from now, in the week of January 30th,
a pre-hearing conference will be held in Springfield, at which people
desiring to speak at the actual hearing may establish standing to give
testimony.
As the object of the legal hearing is to obtain expert testimony,
this standing will require an established
group, complete with an attorney, to file an "intent to intervene."
Once groups are set, the ICC will then set dates for the formal hearings.
These hearings are likely to take from 10 to 14 months to complete,
and will be held in Chicago and Springfield.
The cities of Champaign and Urbana, along with Bloomington and Normal, have
cooperatively formed such a group and hired a lawyer with expertise in
dealing with the ICC. They will meet with the hearing officer and request
permission to give testimony at the hearings. In order to gauge public
opinion and obtain public input that might be presented to the ICC as part
of the group's
testimony, the cities will be holding local hearings in Champaign
and Urbana next week, at the following locations:
- Urbana hearing: Wednesday, January 17th at 7:30 PM in the city council
chambers at 400 S. Vine, Urbana
- Champaign hearing: Thursday, January 18th at 6:00 PM in the city council
chambers at 102 N. Neil, Champaign
Public input is strongly encouraged. Concerned citizens from any
area are welcome to attend both meetings. For the best results, those wishing
to give input should bring paper copies of that input to submit, although
the proceedings will also be taped. Note that representatives of Illinois
Power will not be present. Those who cannot attend the meetings are welcome
to submit input directly to the mayors and city council of both cities.
According to Urbana alderwoman Carolyn Kearns (D-4th ward) the city arborists
are networking through the Illinois Municipal League. People wishing to
inquire about that effort should contact Urbana arborist Mike Brunk at
384-2393.
In addition to supporting the cities' group in the above manner, participants
at Thursday's meeting decided to form a separate citizen group, "IP
Customers United To Save Our Trees," to apply independently for the right
to speak at the formal ICC hearings. Champaign attorney John McMahon has
indicated to Huth that he is willing to work without a retainer and for
half of his usual hourly fee in order to support this effort. The general
consensus of the meeting was that it is important for this group to be
a spontaneously created, unaffiliated group formed to work on this cause
only. However, in order to allow the group to apply for grants and solicit
tax-deductible donations from the public, participants decided to designate
the Illinois Student Environmental
Network (Laura Huth, director) as a "pass through" organization to
handle the funds only, as it has already obtained 501c(3) non-profit status.
The overall thrust of the newly formed "IP Customers United To Save Our Trees"
will be to lobby at the public hearings as consumers of Illinois Power about the value of our
local urban forests. Phyllis Bodnar of E. Perkins road in unincorporated
Urbana spoke passionately about the need for a legal, "expert" voice to
represent the group at the hearings. She told of her experience in 1998
when Illinois Power chopped down trees over two acres of her property
which she "no longer cares to look at." She was prevented from even taking
pictures during the cutting itself, and in later legal proceedings was
told by arborists working for Illinois Power that the company needed to
cut even her forsythia bushes, because "they will grow to be 20 feet tall."
Bodnar disputed this, only to be informed that her opinion did not count
for much, as she is not herself an arborist. Bodnar warns that these sorts
of games will be played again, and the group must be ready for them.
Ironically, it was experiences such as that of the Bodnars which inspired
the Illinois Senate in July of 2000 to amend the Public Utilities Act to
to require power companies to provide explicitly spelled out plans
for their vegetation management in the form of a tariff, which Illinois Power
is currently playing to their maximum advantage.
Belden Fields of Urbana expressed the need for the group to also provide
physical mobilization of people when the trimmers show up at a site, to
surround the tree and the property, climb the tree, and otherwise physically
protest and hopefully impede the action. He warned that this too will require
advanced planning,
strategy, and most importantly people united together. Meeting participants
agreed to add this sort of activity to the group's mission as a second
line of defense.
Before adjourning at 8:30 PM, the group formed six subcommittees and designated
interim leaders for each. Those committees are as follows:
- Executive - Laura Huth
- Fundraising - Phyllis Bodnar
- Legal - Ellyn Bullock
- (Protest) Mobilization Committee - Mollie Stentz
- Outreach/Membership Committee - Colleen Sarna
- Research - TBA
A followup meeting for all group participants and the public to meet and
kick off the activities of the committees has been scheduled for
Wednesday, January 4th at 7:30 PM. Joanne Bailey has offered to
choose a site for the meeting, which will likely take place somewhere
in or near downtown Urbana. The public is strongly encouraged to attend.
People wishing to become involved with this effort should contact Laura
Huth at 384-0830. She will be establishing an e-mail list for the group
soon.
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