IL report cites Foxconn's river damage, wetland losses

I'd said on Friday that Walker framed his winning Foxconn as 'the eagle has landed.'

Officials in Illinois are saying it's more of a dirty bird.

Lake County, IL is documenting negative environmental impacts from Foxconn project construction and the more-brown-than-green green light Wisconsin under Walker gave the project, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

Wetlands being filled in, silt spilling into Des Plaines River due to Foxconn development, Lake County study finds

Two major takeaways from the story:

...compared to Lake County and Illinois standards for wetland and development mitigation, the rules for Foxconn will increase the amount of water and sediment headed south.

...the National Weather Service’s 2019 Spring Flood and Water Outlook, which was released Friday and reported that this winter has been “the wettest winter on record for the Midwest,” according to the weather service’s website.

The spring flood forecast for the Des Plaines River is above average, and while the Fox River’s outlook is average, it runs above average the farther south it flows.

Also:

I'd noted in 2017 that Foxconn picked a flood-prone county for its massive, sprawl construction site and I've noted that Foxconn was going to build on wetlands and huge swaths of water-absorbing farm land.

The IL report says Foxconn has already filled 38 wetland acres, an increase of almost 50% from the 26 reporter earlier, and construction is nowhere near complete.

I'd posted a summary of Foxconn's environmental pitfalls last year, including earlier runoff from the project site after the kind heavy rain seen more frequently in Wisconsin:

Runoff from the Foxconn site after an August thunderstorm

Here is a link to an archival post about Foxconn I've regularly updated for 21 months.