Friday, February 13, 2015

Wisconsin pipeline dwarfs Keystone and affects every waterway in the state |

Wisconsin | Wisconsin Gazette - Smart, independent and revealing. News, opinion and entertainment coverage

 

Line 61 goes across Boone County and also is being expanded with a pumping station on Lawrenceville Road, East of Belvidere city limits.

A 42-inch pipeline buried beneath every major waterway in Wisconsin would dwarf the volume of gritty, chemical-laced sludge carried by Keystone XL when it amps up operation next year. Only a Dane County zoning committee stands in the way — temporarily — of oil giant Enbridge’s intention for Line 61 to convey more tar sands crude than any pipeline in the nation.

A network of pipes and pumping stations built at various times and gradually joined together, the convoluted line began in 2006 and currently pumps an astonishing 560,000 barrels through Wisconsin daily. After its 12 pumping stations are either constructed or upgraded with additional horsepower, the line would convey up to 1.2 million barrels daily — one-third more than the Keystone XL’s 800,000 barrels.

Enbridge, North America’s largest oil and gas pipeline operator, has the Western Hemisphere’s worst record for spills. The National Transportation Safety Board has recorded 800 incidents since 1999 — and that’s not including oil that seeps into the environment from weak or corroded sections of pipe, which is ignored by federal regulators.

According to the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, Enbridge is guilty of more than 100 environmental violations in 14 Wisconsin counties. Most recently, in July 2012, a farm field in Grand Marsh was covered by at least 1,200 barrels of oil after an Enbridge pipeline ruptured. Enbridge had to purchase a nearby home that a local resident described as being “covered in oil,” according to the Sierra Club. The rupture involved conventional crude oil rather than tar sands crude.

“Enbridge is a high-risk company,” said Elizabeth Ward, conservation program coordinator for the group’s John Muir chapter in Wisconsin.

Enbridge also is notoriously dodgy about accepting responsibility for its mishaps. In 2010, the break of an Enbridge line in Michigan spewed tar sands oil for more than 17 hours before Enbridge realized it was leaking. Some 20,000 barrels of tar sands crude damaged 35 miles of Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. The full extent of public health effects will probably never be known, but 320 homes were evacuated.

It was the largest inland oil spill in the nation’s history.

The EPA ordered Enbridge to clean up the impacted area by the end of 2013. After some pushback, the company agreed to comply.

But Enbridge has spent more than $1.2 billion on the cleanup and it still has yet to be completed. Some question whether it ever can be.

The company claims to have refined its operations since then, significantly increasing safety.

In the shadows

Why has Keystone generated such frenzy while Line 61 has gone largely ignored? For one thing, Keystone is a new pipeline without a track record. Another is partisan politics. Republicans pushing for the president’s approval of the Keystone XL have used his stated environmental concerns to charge that he’s “anti-jobs.” The actual number of jobs created by Keystone and similar projects, however, is surprisingly modest, given the rhetoric.

Like the tar sands sludge that would be carried by Keystone, the crude transported by Line 61 also originates in Alberta, Canada. It arrives in Superior, Wisconsin, by way of a line known as the Alberta Clipper. But Line 61 itself is confined within American borders, so no presidential approval is required.

A more significant reason for the lack of public interest in Line 61 is that Enbridge seems to have learned a public-relations lesson from the drama over Keystone, Ward said. In order to avoid a reprise of Keystone, Enbridge has kept Line 61 as low profile as possible. The company also resorted to what Ward and other critics believe is subterfuge by breaking the entire project into three pieces, each of them addressed without fanfare.

Thus, the company was able to build the complex pipeline (see diagram) in the shadows, sidestepping public meetings for the most part. Environmental advocates say the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources assisted the company by virtually rubber-stamping the project every step of the way.

By the time advocates put the pieces together and realized the full scope of Enbridge’s plan, all of the pipes were in place, and most of the 12 pumping stations were either ready to operate or already approved. Eleven of the 12 now have use permits.

Once environmental groups realized what was going on, they found themselves helpless to stop the juggernaut.

Becky Haase, a stakeholder-relations specialist for Enbridge, has said everything the company did was up front and on the level. According to her, the pipeline was constructed specifically to move large amounts of oil sands through the region.She said the pipes already laid were built to run up to 1.2 million barrels per day and additional permits are not needed.

Environmentalists, however, are horrified that the nation’s largest tar sands pipeline, created and operated by the nation’s most accident-prone distributor, was erected without conducting an environmental impact study. Six Wisconsin counties recently passed resolutions asking the DNR to do a large-impact study on the tar sands project in its entirety, Ward said. The agency, however, contends that it’s not needed.

The DNR has not been helpful to any of the counties concerned, multiple sources told WiG. And, they added, it’s highly unlikely that the agency will change course, given the state’s current political environment. Fossil fuel companies such as Koch Industries might not employ that many Wisconsinites, but dozens — if not hundreds — of public officials have accepted what adds up to massive amounts of cash from them.

Yet one of the toughest problems facing environmental advocates in Wisconsin is the blind trust residents put in their leaders to shield them from harm. “(The public) automatically assumes that there’s no way we can be right and Gov. Walker and the DNR could be misleading them,” Ward said.

And, since gag orders inevitably come with the settlements that residents receive from oil distributors, there’s no one around except for activists to tell the public the truth.

Hands tied

The only remaining holdout on Enbridge’s Line 61 is the Dane County Zoning Committee. For months, the committee has delayed approval for the project’s 12th pumping station, which Enbridge plans to build in the county’s northeastern corner — an area of farmland and wetland. The latest delay was Jan. 28.

Chair Patrick Miles said that while constituents have brought concerns about the project to his attention, the committee lacks authority to address their fears of prospective disasters. Some people, he said, brought their concerns to him privately, afraid to speak up publicly because they receive lucrative easements from Enbridge to allow pipelines on their properties. They fear retaliation, Miles told WiG.

“This particular permitting process has been more frustrating than most, because our hands are tied,” he said. “Usually we have the authority to at least consider a denial if we can’t mitigate concerns, but there’s not an option here. It’s a foregone conclusion that they’ll get their permit — the question is under what terms.”

Eventually, the zoning committee hit on the strategy of requiring Enbridge to show proof of adequate insurance to handle damages should something go awry. Residents should at least have assurances that their financial losses would be covered in the event of a disaster, Miles said.

For the last few weeks, the committee has frenziedly researched what kind of costs would be associated with various disaster scenarios and what kind of insurance — and insurers — would handle them.

Miles said Enbridge officials began their interaction with the committee by being uncooperative, saying the county had no legal right to request insurance coverage. Miles said he was intimidated by the prospect that the oil giant would slap the county with an expensive lawsuit.

But the county’s concerns are well-founded, say others. Enbridge is a limited liability corporation that says it’s self-insured, but the company has very little value. The partners distribute profits among themselves as the money pours in and have little left in the way of assets after the oil is sold.

The $1.2 billion that Enbridge has paid so far to restore damage on the Kalamazoo River has been paid on a “pay-as-you-go” basis, with money coming out of the company’s revenue stream, says Harry Bennett, of the group 350 Madison.

With the specter of Kalamazoo overshadowing them, Miles and his crew refused to back down. The county’s legal counsel dug into the relevant case law and discovered that proof of insurance is a perfectly legitimate request. After the county’s standing was established, Enbridge’s attitude seemed to improve.

“They’re being pretty patient now,” Miles said.

Enbridge had recently taken out a $700-million insurance policy and representatives of the company offered to designate $100 million of it specifically for any mishaps that might occur in Dane County. Enbridge officials also pointed out that the Pipeline and Hazardous Chemicals Safety Administration operates an oil spill trust fund that would make up any differences in costs.

At the committee’s Feb. 10 meeting, as WiG was headed to press, members planned to press Enbridge on conducting an environmental risk analysis, something the company has indicated it’s open to doing, according to Miles. The analysis would pave the way for obtaining adequate insurance.

Miles speculates that the precipitous drop in oil prices coupled with Obama’s hesitancy toward the Keystone pipeline might have taken some urgency out of the push for Line 61. The Alberta Clipper, which feeds tar sands into Line 61 and other U.S. pipelines, also needs presidential approval, according to the Sierra Club, which has joined other groups in filing a lawsuit forcing the company to get presidential approval. and so it’s possible that Enbridge does not want to draw too much attention to the project right now.

Gummy peanut butter

Environmentalists say it defies logic that regulators treat conventional crude and tar sands crude as if they pose the same safety risks, because they are vastly dissimilar materials.

Technically known as “bituminous sands,” tar sands crude is a mixture of petroleum, clay, sand, water and chemicals that allow the thick, abrasive sludge to flow through pipelines. Bennett calls it “gummy, peanut-butter-like stuff.”

Tar sands are heavier and far more abrasive than conventional crude, and the chemicals used to dilute it are very acidic. That means the erosion of pipe walls occurs much faster and the threat of rupture is far keener on pipelines conveying tar sands crude.

Similarly, tar sands accidents do far more damage to the environment and are exponentially more difficult and expensive to clean up. Unlike traditional oil, tar sand oil is dense and does not float. As the accident in Michigan proved, lumps of chemically treated tar sand remain on the floor of riverbeds and ponds long after surface evidence has disappeared — perhaps forever. The acidic damage to the affected waterways remains unknown.

Technology to detect leaks before they mushroom into irreparable disasters is all but useless. The detection system is supposed to have automatic shut-off valves that are tripped when a leak is found. But a Natural Resources Defense Council investigation discovered that the systems missed 19 out of 20 of the smaller spills — and even four out of five of the larger spills.

“If we were in a different political state and nation, there would be a completely different process for tar sands pipelines,” Ward said. “We’re (operating under) antiquated rules that do not differentiate between the types of oils.”

“Tar sands are the least efficient and most difficult oil to extract,” Bennett said. “There should have been an environmental impact study done in 2006 or 2007, when all this was ramping up.”

Many people also wrongly assume that the tar sands pipelines carry oil that is consumed domestically and helps to keep down their fuel prices. But the contents of Wisconsin pipelines, just like the contents of the proposed Keystone XL, are destined for overseas markets. Right now, Enbridge’s tar sands crude is headed nowhere, because the cost of mining and processing it is either close to or greater than the cost of the average barrel of oil sold in the marketplace.

In the end, tar sands passing through pipelines in Wisconsin are bound for refineries and then storage tanks, where the oil will sit until prices rebound. Wisconsin is just a pass-through state that will see little if any economic benefit by way of gas or jobs.

“While the overseas markets will see the benefits, Wisconsinites are expected to take all the risks,” Ward said.

Following is from:  XXL: Wisconsin pipeline dwarfs Keystone and affects every waterway in the state | Wisconsin | Wisconsin Gazette - Smart, independent and revealing. News, opinion and entertainment coverage

Rauner dealt blow on blocking union fair share fees - Chicago Tribune

By Monique Garcia, Kim Geiger and Rick Pearson Clout Street

Aides said the governor will order state agencies to withhold from unions the fees they are owed from workers who choose not to become a member. Rauner’s office called it an “operational solution” following a decision by Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger to not withhold “fair share” fees from the unions after Madigan advised her that doing so would be illegal.

The developments Friday came four days after Rauner issued an executive order to keep public employee unions from receiving the fees, which are required by state law and collective bargaining agreements between the unions and the state.

At the same time, Rauner went to federal court seeking a ruling ultimately aimed at having the U.S. Supreme Court declare payment of “fair share” fees unconstitutional and said the money should be kept in escrow pending a final legal determination.

It was the request for an escrow account that led the comptroller, who issues employee paychecks, to ask the attorney general for some legal advice. Under state law, an escrow account can only be created jointly by the state treasurer and comptroller, or by the courts. Madigan’s office noted that by state law, the comptroller must pay the unions money they are owed…

But the attorney general’s office said Friday that until there is a final legal determination by the courts, the state is required to collect the “fair share” fees and give them to the unions.

“Fair share fees remain constitutional,” said Natalie Bauer Luce, a Madigan spokeswoman.

Under Rauner’s work around, state agencies would deduct “fair share” dues from paycheck information provided to the comptroller. But agencies have no power to create escrow accounts and any money withheld would stay in agency budgets.

Still unanswered by Rauner’s move is the attorney general’s broader argument that it remains illegal for the Republican governor to put a stop on money unions are entitled to under state labor law and their employment contracts.

 

Click on the following to read all of the story:  Rauner dealt blow on blocking union fair share fees - Chicago Tribune

Frustrated Republicans taste limits of majority control - Yahoo News

By ERICA WERNER 6 hours ago

….They're all bad options from the GOP perspective. A short-term extension just pushes the problem to a later date. Removing the immigration language would amount to a bitter admission of defeat after Republicans have spent months accusing Obama of an unconstitutional power grab for limiting deportations for millions in the U.S. illegally and making them eligible for work permits. That's left Republicans staring down the third possibility: a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department.

It's something most say they want to avoid, but on Thursday House Speaker John Boehner refused to rule the possibility out, insisting instead that Senate Democrats should get the blame if it happens.

"If funding for Homeland Security lapses, Washington Democrats are going to bear the responsibility," the Ohio Republican said. "The House has done its job. We've spoken. And now it's up to the Senate to do their job."

Some House conservatives go further, arguing that a shutdown would hardly be calamitous because the large majority of department personnel would be deemed essential and report to work, though most would not get paid until after the shutdown ends.

"Look at the last shutdown — 85 to 90 percent of the personnel from DHS all came to work, and they all got paid" eventually, said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. "As much as both sides don't want that to happen, it is always a possibility."

The last shutdown happened in the fall of 2013 over a failed GOP attempt to uproot Obama's health care law. Republicans got blamed for that one, and some fear they would pay the political price if there's another one, too.

The dispute will resume when lawmakers return to the Capitol Feb. 23 with just a few days left before the funding deadline expires. GOP leaders have announced that the Senate will start the week by taking its fourth procedural vote on the House-passed funding bill. Democrats blocked all three previous attempts to open debate on the measure, and the outcome is unlikely to be any different the fourth time around.

The Capitol Hill drama is unfolding as the Obama administration moves forward unchecked in implementing the new immigration programs. Wednesday will bring the first major opportunity to sign up, when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services begins accepting applications from those eligible for an expanded program granting work permits and deportation deferrals to immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as kids. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus held a press conference Friday to encourage immigrants to enroll regardless of the political opposition, with members saying that will only make it harder for divided Republicans to undo the program.

"We're going to sign 'em up by the hundreds of thousands," predicted Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. "The more people that are in the program, the harder it is to turn back the clock on justice."

Frustrated Republicans taste limits of majority control - Yahoo News

Belvidere Daily Republican: Problems mount at Poplar Grove's sewage treatment plants

 


By Bob Balgemann
Reporter

POPLAR GROVE - Village Trustee Jeff Goings summed it up this way: "It's just more and more."

...

He was referring to the increasing number of problems at the village's two sewage treatment plants, which officials say could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct.

A tip of the iceberg payment of $8,973 was approved Jan. 12 for replacement of blowers at the southside plant. Village Engineer Chris Dopkins said they were undersized and needed to be removed.

After listening to him provide an update on problems at the facilities, Trustee Ron Quimby asked, "So, plans we've been given for the north and southside wastewater treatment plants don't match what was actually done?"

"That's what we think," Dopkins answered.

That includes piping that is in a different location than what is shown on maps.

"There were a lot of change orders with this (southside plant) project," Quimby said. "If we're going to have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for improvements, I think we should go back and look at that."

The village now contracts with MCO to run the plant, with 2 1/2 of the company's employees assigned to do that work. Jason Voss heads the team and he provided the board with an update that included a possible problem with infiltration of storm water into the treatment process.

After all was said and done Dopkins told officials, "I feel bad for you guys. I will discount some of my time for what was spent last week."

In a follow-up interview, Quimby said he thought new Village Administrator Diana Dykstra having background in utilities would be helpful in dealing with all the problems at the two plants.

MCO reports directly to the board, but he said she would be overseeing the operation of the plants as part of her duties in running the village.

VISIT BELOIT, WIS. PLANTS

Meanwhile, trustees Owen Costanza and Jeff Goings recently visited the treatment plant in Beloit, Wis., to see how it was run. Quimby and Trustee Judi Zangs were scheduled for a visit last week.

"I think we're on the right track now, with MCO running our plants," Costanza said. "The problem is Poplar Grove plants were not taken care of. Evidence of that can be seen in the list of improvements that need to be done. Jeff Goings has been calling for this for the past eight years."

"Our guys should have been dedicated to (work at) the plants and not do snow plowing," he added. "MCO has dedicated 2 1/2 people to the plants."

So far, he said the village "has spent more than $100,000 to make the plants functional, compliant with the EPA" (Environmental Protection Agency).

Dopkins is preparing a priority list of improvements with two thoughts in mind. One, he said, would be projects that could be done if money was no object. The other would be projects that need to be done "to keep the plants reliable."
The lists also will have cost estimates for all the work.

Above is from:  (4) Belvidere Daily Republican

Mexico and Wal-Mart launch initiative to improve lives of farmworkers - LA Times

Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

The Mexican government and Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, have announced steps to improve the lives of the nation's farmworkers, two months after a Los Angeles Times investigation detailed labor abuses at Mexican agribusinesses that supply major U.S. supermarket chains and restaurants.

Mexico's secretary of agriculture, Enrique Martinez y Martinez, announced the creation Thursday of a "historic" alliance of produce industry groups that will focus on enforcing wage laws and improving housing, schools and healthcare for the more than 1 million laborers at export farms.

The group represents growers and distributors that handle 90% of Mexico's produce exports to the United States, which have tripled over the last decade and now exceed $7.5 billion a year.

 

The Mexican government and Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, have announced steps to improve the lives of the nation's farmworkers.

Striving for better working conditions

The Mexican government and Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, have announced steps to improve the lives of the nation's farmworkers.

Separately, Wal-Mart said it is taking action to ensure that workers are treated with "respect and dignity," reminding its in-house buyers that they should buy produce only from farms that meet the company's standards for decent treatment of workers.

Wal-Mart also said it will ask outside suppliers to certify that they have visited "any new facility they plan to use for Wal-Mart production" and that the facilities meet company standards.

Wal-Mart said it would send a team of senior leaders to attend meetings with growers involved with the new initiative, called the International Produce Alliance to Promote a Socially Responsible Industry. Senior executives have also been assigned to examine ways to partner with other groups to improve conditions.

"This effort is aimed at leveraging the work of a broader coalition to improve the lives of workers, including making it clear that Wal-Mart's standards do not tolerate working conditions as described in the L.A. Times," Wal-Mart said. "We do not want to work with suppliers unless they share this commitment."

The Times' "Product of Mexico" series, published in December after an 18-month investigation, revealed that farm workers were essentially trapped in squalid labor camps, often without bedsany , reliable water supplies or adequate food rations. In many camps, labor bosses illegally withheld workers' wages to prevent them from leaving until the end of the harvest season.

 

Martinez y Martinez called the formation of the alliance — which took place Wednesday at the Ministry of Agriculture in Mexico City — a special event for the agricultural sector and for the country, according to a summary of his remarks. Representatives of nine trade groups, including the Arizona-based Fresh Produce Assn. of the Americas, attended the event.

"We will continue making history in the sector with successful achievements like this one," Martinez y Martinez said.

Wal-Mart lauded the high-level involvement of government officials, saying it is vital toward making progress.

"We're optimistic and encouraged that the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture … seems to be taking a leading role in the [alliance] by working closely with producers in Mexico," Wal-Mart said.

Industry representatives gave few details about how the alliance would meet its goals and did not commit to establishing uniform worker-welfare standards.

But the actions, together with improvements already underway and the involvement of Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture, signal that the industry appears to be mobilizing to an extent not previously seen to improve the lives of farmworkers.

In recent weeks, industry and Mexican government officials have been preparing to open stores in labor camps to sell goods at discounted prices, breaking the hold of privately run stores known as tiendas de raya that charge inflated prices and where many workers run up huge debts.

Some of the largest export farms in Sinaloa, Mexico's leading agricultural state, have started remodeling rundown housing, supplying beds and establishing stable water supplies. Some farms that illegally withheld wages have switched to weekly pay schedules, as required by law, state and industry officials said.

State inspectors have been carrying out more camp inspections and cracking down on operators who transport children to the fields. The series also has helped jump-start the construction of several projects, including the opening of two soup kitchens and the remodeling of a day-care center, child welfare advocates said.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Mexico and Wal-Mart launch initiative to improve lives of farmworkers - LA Times

The Times found:

  • Many farm laborers are essentially trapped for months at a time in rat-infested camps, often without beds and sometimes without functioning toilets or a reliable water supply.
  • Some camp bosses illegally withhold wages to prevent workers from leaving during peak harvest periods.
  • Laborers often go deep in debt paying inflated prices for necessities at company stores. Some are reduced to scavenging for food when their credit is cut off. It's common for laborers to head home penniless at the end of a harvest.
  • Those who seek to escape their debts and miserable living conditions have to contend with guards, barbed-wire fences and sometimes threats of violence from camp supervisors.
  • Major U.S. companies have done little to enforce social responsibility guidelines that call for basic worker protections such as clean housing and fair pay practices.

The farm laborers are mostly indigenous people from Mexico's poorest regions. Bused hundreds of miles to vast agricultural complexes, they work six days a week for the equivalent of $8 to $12 a day.

The squalid camps where they live, sometimes sleeping on scraps of cardboard on concrete floors, are operated by the same agribusinesses that employ advanced growing techniques and sanitary measures in their fields and greenhouses.

The contrast between the treatment of produce and of people is stark

Read the LA Times Report at:  http://graphics.latimes.com/product-of-mexico-camps/

Bruce Rauner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Early life and education[edit]

Bruce Rauner was born in Chicago and grew up in Deerfield, Illinois,[3] a suburb of Chicago. His mother, Ann E. (Erickson),[4] was a nurse, and his father, Vincent Joseph Rauner, was a lawyer and senior vice president for Motorola.[5][6][7][8] He has three siblings, Christopher, Mark, and Paula, and is of part Swedish descent.[4]

Rauner graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth, he also studied English horn, played in the orchestra and won several statewide honors.[9] He later received an MBA from Harvard University.[10]

Business career[edit]

Rauner was the Chairman of private equity firm GTCR, where he had worked for more than 30 years, starting in 1981 after his graduation from Harvard[4] through his retirement in October 2012.[11] A number of state pension funds, including those of Illinois, have invested in GTCR, whose funds have regularly outperformed other private equity investment funds as well as the stock market.[12]

After leaving GTCR, Rauner opened an office for a self-financed venture firm, R8 Capital Partners. The firm will invest up to $15 million in smaller Illinois companies.[13]

Rauner served as Chairman of Choose Chicago, the not-for-profit that serves as the city's convention and tourism bureau,[14] resigning in May 2013,[15] and as Chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund.[16] Rauner has also served as the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago.[17]

Political career[edit]

Rauner has served as an advisor to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.[10]

2014 gubernatorial election[edit]

Main article: Illinois gubernatorial election, 2014

In March 2013, Rauner formed an exploratory committee to look at a run for Governor of Illinois as a Republican.[18] Rauner said that his top priorities included streamlining government, improving education and improving the state's business climate.[19] He also supports term limits and says he would serve no more than 8 years as governor.[19] On June 5, 2013, Rauner officially announced his candidacy for governor,[20] telling Chicago magazine's Carol Felsenthal his platform would include overhauling tax policy and freezing property taxes.[21]

In October 2013, Rauner announced that his running mate would be Wheaton City Councilwoman Evelyn Sanguinetti.[22][23]

Rauner won the March 18 Republican primary with 328,934 votes (40.13%), defeating State Senator Kirk Dillard's 305,120 (37.22%), State Senator Bill Brady's 123,708 (15.09%) and Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford's 61,848 (7.55%).

For the general election, Rauner was endorsed by the majority of Illinois newspapers[24] including the Chicago Tribune,[25] the Daily Herald,[26] and the Chicago Sun-Times.[27]

On November 4, 2014, Rauner was elected Governor of Illinois, though initially without Gov. Quinn's concession.[28] Pat Quinn conceded defeat the next day.[29]

Rauner spent a record $26 million of his own money on his election.[30]

Governor of Illinois[edit]

Rauner was sworn in as Governor of Illinois on January 12, 2015.[31] In his first executive order, he halted state hiring as well as discretionary spending, and called for state agencies to sell surplus property.[32]

On February 9, 2015, Rauner signed an executive order blocking so called “fair share” union fees from state employee paychecks.[33][34] The same day, Rauner hired a legal team headed by former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb and his law firm Winston & Strawn to file a declaratory judgment action in the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm his action.[33][34]

Policy positions[edit]

Unions[edit]

Rauner's stance on labor unions has received considerable attention and controversy. Rauner believes that local governments should be allowed to pass Right to work laws.[35][36] Additionally, Rauner believes that the state should ban some political contributions by public unions, saying that "government unions should not be allowed to influence the public officials they are lobbying, and sitting across the bargaining table from, through campaign donations and expenditures."[35]

Minimum wage[edit]

Rauner has received media attention for his political stance on the minimum wage.[37][38] Rauner currently favors either raising the national minimum wage so Illinois employers are on the same level as other neighboring states, or unilaterally raising Illinois' minimum wage, but pairing the change with pro-business reforms to the state's tax code, workers compensation reform, and tort reform.[39]

Rauner's position on the minimum wage evolved significantly during his campaign. At a candidate forum on December 11, 2013, Rauner stated that he would favour reducing Illinois's minimum wage from $8.25 to the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The Chicago Sun-Times also uncovered video of Rauner at a campaign event in September 2013, where he said that he was "adamantly, adamantly against raising the minimum wage"[40] and audio of an interview with Rauner from January 10, 2014, when he said that "I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois' competitiveness."[41]

Tax policy[edit]

Rauner strongly opposed Governor Pat Quinn's proposal to make the 2011 temporary income tax increase permanent, instead calling for the Illinois' income tax rate to gradually be rolled back to 3 percent.[42]

In July 2014, Rauner called for expanding Illinois' sales tax to dozens of services, such as legal services and computer programming, which currently are not taxed in Illinois. Rauner estimated the expanded sales tax would bring in an additional $600 million a year.[43] Rauner's services tax proposal was harshly criticized by Pat Quinn, who said it would fall hardest on low income people.[44]

Term limits[edit]

Rauner strongly favors term limits, and has pledged to limit himself to no more than eight years as Governor.[45] Rauner organized and funded a push to put a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on Illinois legislators on the November 2014 ballot, gathering 591,092 signatures.[46] However, the term limits amendment was struck down in court as unconstitutional.[47]

Infrastructure[edit]

During his 2014 campaign, Rauner called for “billions” of dollars per year in public spending on infrastructure, but declined to detail how he would pay for the spending.[48]

During his gubernatorial campaign Rauner declined to take a position on the controversial Illiana Expressway and Peotone Airport projects advanced by Pat Quinn.[49] After taking office in 2015 he suspended the Illiana project pending a cost-benefit review.[50]

Controversies[edit]

Dave McKinney[edit]

On October 22, 2014, Dave McKinney, a 19-year veteran Chicago Sun-Times political reporter and bureau chief, resigned from the paper, citing pressure brought to bear on him by Sun Times management with regard to his coverage of Rauner.[51] McKinney had recently completed an investigative news story about a lawsuit filed by Christine Kirk, the CEO of LeapSource, a firm at which Rauner served as director. The unflattering news piece, written by three reporters and approved by the newspaper's editors, described Rauner using "hardball tactics" to threaten Kirk and her family.[52]

The Rauner campaign tried but failed to have the story include disclosure McKinney's wife, Ann Liston, was part owner of a company that did political work for a pro-Quinn PAC, and thus had had a conflict of interest;[53] they then published details about the shell LLC company, created by and sharing office space with a long term Democratic strategist firm, of which Liston was part-owner.[54] The shell LLC company is currently employed by a pro-Quinn PAC.[55] McKinney says any notion of conflict of interest was untrue.[56][57]

Walter Payton College Prep[edit]

In 2008, Rauner's daughter was admitted to Walter Payton Prep school in Chicago through the "principal picks" process. The family maintains several residences, including one in downtown Chicago that enabled her to apply to the Chicago-based school. Although she had top grades, she had missed several days of school and therefore did not qualify through the regular admissions process.[58][59] It was later revealed that Rauner had sought information on this process from his personal friend Arne Duncan, then CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Rauner has said he had no recollection of speaking with Duncan directly. According to another source, she was not a "principal pick", but was let in following the phone call between Bruce Rauner and Arne Duncan.[60] The Rauners donated $250,000 to the school during the subsequent school year.[61] Rauner has a long history of contributing to Chicago Public Schools.[62]

Philanthropy[edit]

Rauner was nominated for the 2008 Philanthropist of the Year by the Chicago Association of Fundraising Professionals.[63] In 2003 Rauner received the Daley Medal from the Illinois Venture Capital Association for extraordinary support to the Illinois economy[64] and was given the Association for Corporate Growth's Lifetime Achievement Award. Rauner and his wife were nominated for the Golden Apple Foundation's 2011 Community Service Award.[65]

Rauner has been a financial supporter of projects including Chicago's Red Cross regional headquarters, the YMCA in the Little Village neighborhood,[66] six new charter high schools,[67] an AUSL turnaround campus, scholarship programs for disadvantaged Illinois public school students, and achievement-based compensation systems for teachers and principals in Chicago Public Schools. He provided major funding for the construction of the Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College,[68] endowed full professor chairs at Dartmouth College, Morehouse College, University of Chicago and Harvard Business School, and was the lead donor for the Stanley C. Golder Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance at the University of Illinois.[69]

Rauner serves on the board of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.[70]

Personal life[edit]

Rauner lives in Winnetka, Illinois with his wife, Diana Mendley Rauner, and family.[71] He has three children with Diana Mendley. He also has three children from his first marriage, to Beth Konker Wessel, whom he married in 1980 and from whom he separated in 1990. (The divorce was finalized in 1993.)[4]

 

Bruce Rauner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sister of top Rauner aide gets state job

 

Kurt Erickson Times Bureau

 

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner campaigned on a pledge to tackle patronage hiring in Illinois, but one of the first employees of his new administration is the sister of one of his top aides.

State payroll records reviewed by the Quad-City Times' Springfield Bureau show Emily Clamp was hired on Jan. 16 for a $70,008 per year job at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

A Rauner spokeswoman says the 25-year-old is "well suited" for the position based on her college studies, but her sister, Sarah Clamp, was political director of Rauner's successful campaign for governor against Democrat Pat Quinn.

Sarah Clamp is now is on the state payroll as the governor's $90,000-per-year director of special projects.

The hiring of Emily Clamp comes after Rauner focused much of his campaign on hiring practices during Quinn's tenure as governor, including putting politically connected people, campaign workers and "cronies" into state jobs.

In his inaugural address last month, Rauner bolstered that theme, saying he wants to strengthen ethics in the executive branch.

"I will send a clear signal to everyone in our state, and to those watching from outside our borders, that business as usual is over," Rauner said. "It stops now."

Emily Clamp's hiring four days after Rauner was sworn into office also occurred after the Republican businessman from Winnetka had imposed a hiring freeze on state government.

Alden Loury, a senior policy analyst with the Chicago-based Better Government Association, said the hire raises red flags, especially after Rauner's attacks on Quinn.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Sister of top Rauner aide gets state job

Rauner’s reacion to questioning about this hiring:

Governor unsure about details of hiring

Kurt Erickson The Southern Springfield Bureau

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner says he still doesn't know the details behind his administration's hiring of the sister of one of his top aides.

In an interview on WGN radio Thursday morning, Rauner responded to questions about the Jan. 16 hiring of Emily Clamp to a $70,008 per year job at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

As first reported Monday by The Southern Illinoisan's Springfield bureau, Clamp, 25, is the younger sister of Rauner aide Sarah Clamp, who served as the governor's political director during his successful campaign last year against Democrat Pat Quinn.

Sarah Clamp now serves as the governor's $90,000-per-year director of special projects.

"Frankly, I don't know too much about that," Rauner told the radio station. "Somebody told me about this relationship. I don't know all the details of this case you're talking about."….

Read the entire article athttp://thesouthern.com/news/local/state-and-regional/governor-unsure-about-details-of-hiring/article_be70257d-234c-50f8-a288-ed209f0ec2c9.html

Full speed ahead? | The Rock River Times

 

By Shane Nicholson
Managing Editor

ROCKFORD – As part of a review of all statewide discretionary spending projects, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office announced that the proposed Amtrak line from Chicago to Rockford has been placed on hold.

The $223 million project greenlighted by former Gov. Pat Quinn called for stops at Elgin, Huntley and Belvidere before reaching a new downtown train station at Davis Park, adjacent to the Amerock building.

“Major construction projects at IDOT, including the proposed Rockford service, are on pause and under review,” said IDOT in a statement released last Thursday.

IDOT reports that over $3 million in state funds has been spent on engineering projects related to the new line. Construction on the rail line has not begun.

Plans called for a temporary station to be opened in Rockford by the end of 2015 with a single daily round trip to Chicago’s Union Station.

Rauner’s office has not confirmed if the rail project is on hold pending a final review or if it intends to kill the project entirely.

“It’s something we’re going to look at,” said Rauner during a speech at Rockford Airport last week.

“We want to invest in infrastructure and make sure it’s excellent and I want to make sure we have an outstanding rail system. That’s one of many initiatives we will be vaulting and looking for ways to support.”

Full speed ahead? | The Rock River Times

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Plan for Amtrak service from Chicago to Rockford is under review - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

 

HUNTLEY, Ill. (AP) -- A plan to restart Amtrak service between Chicago and Rockford is on hold.
The (Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald reports that a spokeswoman for Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says the project is part of his review of state spending projects. Rauner signed an executive order freezing discretionary spending and temporarily barring agencies from awarding contracts without approval.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn last spring announced a $223 million plan to restart the service for the first time since the 1980s. Construction hasn't started on the line.
Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell says state transportation officials spend $3 million on engineering before Rauner signed the order.
The newspaper reports the village of Huntley, which was to be a stop, spent $50,000 on engineering plans to build a train platform.

Plan for Amtrak service from Chicago to Rockford is under review - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

Rauner holds new Amtrak service, Huntley proceeds with station plan - Elgin Courier-News

 

Gov. Bruce Rauner's decision to freeze discretionary state spending and bar agencies from awarding contracts without administration consent puts a hold on Union Pacific and IDOT and their agreement with Huntley for a railway stop along the way from Chicago to Rockford.

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Huntley is poised to approve an ordinance for the issue of a $4 million debt certificate to finance various improvements to the village's downtown streetscape including the construction of a railway platform and train station that would allow for Amtrak passengers to stop in Huntley.

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Village Manager David Jonson said the village will move forward with their bond issue as planned. He said the first four phases of the revitalization plan involve relocating utilities, water and sewer lines, dry utilities and parking improvements to the downtown area. The final phase of the project involves the construction of the railway station.

"The majority of the cost for the train station is to be paid by the State of Illinois under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) we have with them."

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Read more of the story:  Rauner holds new Amtrak service, Huntley proceeds with station plan - Elgin Courier-News

Company suspends efforts to seize Nebraska land for Keystone - Yahoo News

 

TransCanada Corp. will temporarily suspend efforts to seize Nebraska land for its much-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline after landowners sued, in what is one obstacle the Canadian company still faces in the 1,179-mile project.

A Holt County District judge issued a temporary injunction Thursday, keeping TransCanada from invoking eminent domain along the proposed Keystone XL route in northern Nebraska while a lawsuit by landowners in that county plays out. TransCanada agreed to the order, hoping to get an accelerated trial schedule so that it can quickly resolve the legal disputes.

A TransCanada spokesman said a similar agreement is being sought in southern Nebraska's York County, where landowners have filed another lawsuit seeking to keep the Calgary-based company from seizing land using eminent domain.

A hearing in Holt County has been set for Feb. 25 on the issue of case progression, TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper said.

Last month, TransCanada filed legal papers in nine Nebraska counties to invoke eminent domain for the land that's needed to construct, operate and maintain the pipeline. It would go from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Nebraska landowners filed their lawsuits last month after the state Supreme Court tossed an earlier, similar lawsuit, with three justices saying the plaintiffs in the case didn't have standing to sue because they didn't prove TransCanada was seeking their land.

Opponents have sought to prevent TransCanada from using eminent domain and to overturn a state law that allowed ex-Gov. Dave Heineman to approve the pipeline's route through the state in 2013.

The judge's order Thursday made no pronouncements on the merits of the case. Such injunctions are common while litigation is pending.

"We expected the temporary injunction order to be issued, as it was," said Dave Domina, an attorney for the landowners.

TransCanada said in a statement that 90 percent of Nebraska landowners along the Keystone XL route — and 100 percent of those in Montana and South Dakota — have agreed to easements to build the pipeline. It also said its offers "are generous, and that all landowners are treated fairly and respectfully."

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THE FOLLOWING:  Company suspends efforts to seize Nebraska land for Keystone - Yahoo News