Mental double take
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Wednesday October 17, 2012
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Vol. 142 Issue 38
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Coalition opposes Clinton Landfill BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
A coalition of local governments and the University is looking to federally protect the Mahomet Aquifer in the face of a request by Clinton Landfill to dump chemical waste above the water source to about 750,000 residents. The coalition — made up of Champaign, Urbana, Decatur, Savoy, Normal and the University — is looking to designate the aquifer as a sole-source aquifer, which would mean that it supplies 50
percent or more of the drinking water for this service area with no available alternatives in the case of contamination, according the EPA’s website. Clinton Landfill has requested that the EPA allow it to dispose of wastes containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, at its site over the Aquifer. These chemicals are toxic and possibly carcinogenic, according to the EPA. The request is still undergoing review. Champaign Mayor Don Gerard said at the time of application, most people did
not know they could voice their opinion. “(The company) hustled the process along so quickly, people didn’t realize there was a public comment opportunity until it had closed,” Gerard said. The coalition has hired water management consulting company Layne Hydro to help with the application, which will take six months to process. Its goal is to have the application ready to send by the end of the month. All members of the coalition will be sharing in paying for the about $55,000
cost of applying. Al Wehrman, a groundwater hydrologist for Layne Hydro, said the application will contend that the aquifer supplies 100 percent of the drinking water to areas within its boundaries. While this application would not have direct bearing on Clinton Landfi ll’s request, but sole-source designation would give the aquifer more protection and stricter guidelines on a federal and state level. “The timing makes it difficult,” he said.
“We don’t know what the permit situation with the Clinton Landfill is.” Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and Gerard said Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk have been supportive of the coalition’s actions. “We believe it is critically important to stand up to preserve the aquifer for not only ourselves, but for all future generations,” Gerard said.
Claire can be reached everett5@dailyillini.com.
Police put pedal to the metal on bike enforcement
Eyes on the issues
BY KLAUDIA DUKALA STAFF WRITER
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More inside: For a recap of Tuesday’s presidential debate turn to Page 3A.
PRITEN VORA THE DAILY ILLINI
People gathered in the Illini Union on Tuesday night to watch the town-hall presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
University police officers have issued more than 60 warnings and 10 tickets to cyclists disobeying the rules of the road since Oct. 1. The University Police Department recently made the decision to more strictly enforce state bicycle laws. Citations have been issued for offenses including not having lights on bicycles at night, cycling the wrong direction on a one-way street, failing to give pedestrians the right of way and ignoring stop signs and red lights. Police officers are “vigorously” trying to change the way bicyclists maneuver around campus, said Capt. Skip Frost of the University Police Department. To assist with this enforcement, the University Police Department sought a partnership with the Urbana Police Department. Urbana police Lt. Bob Fitzgerald said Urbana police
See BIKE LAWS, Page 3A
Weatherization research facility opens, offers hands-on training
Q&A: ANDY GRAMMER
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BY TYLER DAVIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTO COURTESY OF BARI LIEBERMAN
‘The coolest thing is getting to play for a big crowd of people’ BY REBECCA TAYLOR ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Singer and songwriter Andy Grammer used to collect money in a hat while playing his acoustic guitar on the streets of Los Angeles. Now, after headlining his own tour for the fi rst time and playing alongside celebrities like Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat, he is appearing for the fi rst time on campus Wednesday night at The Canopy Club. The Daily Illini spoke with Gram-
INSIDE
mer to talk about his musical career.
Daily Illini: How did you know you wanted to do music? Andy Grammer: I am a huge fan of all forms of art, and I knew I wanted go into something that had to do with creativity. But what I liked the most was writing about a 3 ½- to fourminute song because it was not too overwhelming to write it. I didn’t want to do a whole
screenplay or a novel — that sounds awful — but to write music and a song. I just kind of got that from the jump.
DI: How did it feel to hear “Keep Your Head Up,” from your debut album, for the first time on the radio? AG: Yeah, it was awesome. I was
with my band and we were driving to St. Louis and we all start-
See GRAMMER, Page 3A
The Indoor Climate Research and Training program, an organization focused on education about the importance of weatherization, opened its new training facility in the University’s Research Park on Tuesday. Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon kicked off the event by cutting the ceremonial ribbon. The program is part of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, which is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University. The facility, located at 2111 S. Oak St., Suite 106, is the only one in the state providing classrooms and training opportunities for the home performance industry, according to a news release. The program is devoted to training those involved in the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program. Weatherization is both about reducing the energy needed to insulate a home and how to efficiently supply the energy the house needs. “There’s been a lot that’s had to go into pulling it all together,” said Paul Francisco, coordinator and research engineer at ICRT. “It (has) been quite the project.” The new facility has been in the making for about a year. The building includes classrooms and office spaces, along with a heating, ventilation and air conditioning lab and shop area for demonstrative purposes. The shop area and HVAC lab will have furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners and other props to exhibit air-sealing techniques for attics. Francisco said the facility makes training easier, especially for those who have not had a lot of time in the classroom recently. “We get to have it be a much more involved experience — the kind of experience that we believe will help them to not just see it, but really learn it and understand it and have a much stronger sense of how to do it,” he said. ICRT held its first class in the new facility last November, but the organization hasn’t had “quite the level of props” that they would have liked until the facility was fully functional, Francisco said. Guest speaker Randy Bennett, who has worked in weatherization since the 1970s, said there is still a lot of work to do.
TYLER DAVIS THE DAILY ILLINI
Jeff Gordon demonstrates on a prop to explain how gaps in foundation and insulation can affect heating and energy costs in the home during Tuesday’s grand opening. “We haven’t scratched the surface,” Bennet said. “There’s still a lot of low-income families who need our assistance.” Francisco said weatherization is all about the most cost-effective ways to save homeowners money. He said it can be a lot more cost-effective to add insulation, seal leaks and install a good heating system than to replace windows. These kinds of cost-effective solutions are especially useful for low-income weatherization, which is what ICRT concentrates on. “Long term, we want to have this place be used for training people that are not just focused on lowincome (housing),” Francisco said. “Energy efficiency is a good idea for everybody.” Aside from saving homeowners money, John Hamilton, director of the Community & Economic Development Association of Cook County, said weatherization has the ability to impact climate change. It affects total energy usage in the home, typically achieving reductions between 15 and 30 percent, depending on the building, he said. “You are reducing your carbon emission by the same amount on every single home that gets weatherized,” Hamilton said. “When you talk about that improvement being extended to housing across the nation, the savings are enormous.”
Tyler can be reached at tadavis2@dailyillini.com.
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