Executive Report

Erosion control and water quality

A NEW DIVISION of natural resources within the Department of Agriculture was created in January to administer the Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Act, amended in 1977 to provide for a statewide erosion control program (P.A. 80-159). The division will assist the state's 98 soil and water conservation districts in implementing Illinois federally mandated clean water plan (see Illinois Issues June 1978, pp. 18-22). The plan which was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December relies on the voluntary cooperation of farmers to save farmland and clean up lakes and streams by controlling erosion. If voluntary goals are not met, the federal government may require mandatory controls. Under the plan, local conservation districts have two years to develop local guidelines within the statewide program.

The state goals for controlling soil loss, which is estimated at 180 million tons a year, call for no land in the state to lose more than 50 tons of soil per acre per year by 1982, 40 tons by 1983 and 20 tons by 1985. By the year 2000, all land in the state should fall within the acceptable range of soil loss (the level at which agricultural productivity can be maintained) of three to five tons per acre per year. Authority for enforcement and monitoring of the plan falls with the Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and the Pollution Control Board.

Agriculture's new division of natural resources will also review all coal mining applications and see that mined land reclamation meets environmental standards. In addition, it will administer a small watershed and sewage treatment program and work with the Department of Conservation, the Capital Development Board and other agencies involved in the construction of roads, sewage plants and powerlines which convert farmland to other uses. The division is headed by Jim Frank, who was IEPA's agricultural advisor during the clean water planning program.

Cost control update

According to a report by the Cost Control Task Force issued in February, 200 cost-cutting programs were introduced in state agencies in fiscal 1979 and produced $284 million in net savings and financial benefits. A total of $264.5 million of this amount was the result of annual savings and increased revenues, while $19.8 million was gained in one-time earnings. Two hundred additional task force recommendations are currently under review.

Sexual harassment

In his first executive order of 1980, Gov. James R. Thompson directed agency heads under his jurisdiction to take steps to eliminate sexual harassment in state employment. Executive Order No. 1, issued January 24, requires the director of the Department of Equal Employment Opportunity and its successor, the newly created Department of Human Rights, to train equal employment opportunity officers in executive agencies on how to identify, investigate and resolve complaints of sexual harassment.

28/April 1980/Illinois Issues