Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) thinks there are other reasons legislative leaders canceled the Illinois General Assembly's fall session. | Photo Courtesy of SenChapinRose.com
Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) thinks there are other reasons legislative leaders canceled the Illinois General Assembly's fall session. | Photo Courtesy of SenChapinRose.com
Sen Chapin Rose criticizes the Attorney General for not being able to get the Champaign County people clean water.
On Jun. 30, Sen. Chapin Rose spoke to local media about the settlement that Attorney General Raoul reached with People's Gas over the Champaign County gas leak.
"The first job of the Attorney General, five years ago, should have been to get these folks clean water, period. Not bottled water, not some machine in their basement or outbuilding, but actual clean water out of their tap. There should have never even been a discussion of settlement by the AG before People's Gas paid to extend clean water lines to these homes. Apparently, General Raoul's version of justice is nothing more than playing paddy cake with Peoples Gas. Meanwhile, my constituents still can't drink water out of their tap," Rose told the Decatur Tribune.
The consent order was issued on June 29, 2022. "This consent order will ensure that Peoples Gas is held accountable for cleaning up the gas release and required to provide residents access to safe drinking water," Raoul said. "My office will continue to work diligently to protect Illinois residents from contamination that threatens public health and the environment."
The leak in question occurred in 2016. It occurred at Peoples Gas' Manlove Field underground storage facility near Fisher. The leak reached the Mahomet Aquifer, the largest freshwater source in Illinois, and nearby residents' private wells.
An affected resident spoke to the Decatur Tribune as well: "This is a slap in the face to all of us who have been affected by this, and is clearly nothing more than political theatre," said Jodi Eisenmann, a Mahomet resident whose well was contaminated. "The Attorney General's job is to protect the people of Illinois, but clearly having clean drinking water is not a high priority for him. We are still in the same spot we were five years ago, drinking from bottled water, and Peoples Gas has still not been held accountable. This issue is not resolved for all of us who have been affected."
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