A map of the water diversion area necessitated by the plant’s construction that straddles the boundaries of Lake Michigan and the Des Plaines River headwaters. (Courtesy of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation)

The Lake County Board and the Lake County Stormwater Commission jointly approved a resolution June 12 aimed at registering their concerns over the easing of restrictions by the state of Wisconsin that allows the Foxconn and any other development to gouge into the Des Plaines River watershed. The filing also came with a reconsideration request to Wisconsin officials.

At issue are 26 acres of wetlands that would be filled at the plant site “without an environmental impact study in an area which will detrimentally impact people and properties within a downstream Lake County area which has suffered significant property damage due to flooding; the diversion of approximately 7 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan; and the treatment and return of more than 4 million gallons of water per day to Lake Michigan,” as stated in the resolution.

One of the impacted communities is Gurnee, which also unanimously approved a similar resolution, during its June 18 village board meeting. Gurnee has suffered chronically significant flooding issues from the Des Plaines River including the 2013 and 2017 inundations. The Village Hall and police department moved to the current Washington Street and O’Plaine Road location, as a result of flooding on Grand Avenue.

“We are concerned with the impact to 26 acres of wetland that was allowed for the project,” said Mike Warner, the stormwater commission’s director. “Wetlands provide benefits for water storage, and its loss is important since the project corridor is in the upper Des Plaines River, the very headwaters, and flows downstream into the county.

“We don’t object to the project itself … we are not anti-development. Our concern is that the Foxconn site is on the southern boundary of Racine County, and actually straddles the Lake Michigan and Des Plaines River watershed boundary.”

The Foxconn development has broken ground at its Mount Pleasant location near I-94, which is also undergoing construction in the area. (Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

According to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, “Foxconn Wisconsin will be the largest single economic development project in Wisconsin history that will create 13,000 new jobs and result in over $10 billion in capital investment. Foxconn will construct a high-tech manufacturing and technology campus comprised of multiple buildings totaling 20,000,000 square feet (and) will produce liquid crystal display panels for a variety of industries.”

The Taiwan-based company also used a loophole in current regulations for the Lake Michigan water draw, since the Mount Pleasant plant site receives water utility service from the city of Racine, which lies in the Great Lakes Basin. The city made the request for the additional water and can pump it to the location.

Further, the Trump administration exempted the majority of southeast Wisconsin May 2, from the latest federal limits on lung-damaging smog pollution, as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt overruled his agency’s staff. The area suffers from heavy air pollution.

The action leaves Foxconn, and other area industrial concerns that produce smog-type pollution, free of requirements to install efficacious equipment for emission controls, and limit production to meet the tougher standards set by the Obama administration in 2015.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan threatened to file suit against the federal government May 6, citing that the EPA ruling specifically diminishes the number of areas in Wisconsin requiring stringent ozone regulations.

“The EPA ruling reached the federal register June 4, and the state of Illinois has 60 days from that dat, to file any petitions in federal court,” said Annie Thompson, press secretary for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. “In early Mar., the attorney general did send a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about water usage and air pollution, the gallons of water used per day, and pumped back into the lake.

“We have until Aug. 4, and any court filing made by this office will pertain to air quality issues,” she said.

An overview of the Foxconn campus for the 20,000,000-square foot plant, expansion area, and staging area. (Courtesy of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation)

The Lake County resolution also contained a section, stating, “We support the Illinois Attorney General, Illinois General Assembly and Illinois agencies in taking whatever actions possible to protect Lake County and the State of Illinois against the loss of water resources, potential flooding, and other ecological impacts from this development”

However, the county has not yet undertaken an environmental study of its own to determine the extent of the impact or damage to Des Plaines River, and surrounding communities.

“No environmental impact study has been completed to determine the actual extent, but we do plan on looking into it in more detail,” said Warner. “We would hope to get underway with the study within the next two months, and have results by late summer or early fall. The next step is to reach out to the Racine County Board, and Wisconsin officials, to discuss the development.

“Our county board and the commission have been discussing the issue since early May, and the formal resolution defines out stance,” he said. “Water supply is a little out of our (commission’s) jurisdiction, and we will look to other county agencies to forward water supply concerns to the appropriate parties.”

The plant site was first targeted by Foxconn in July 2017, and the contract sale was confirmed through the city of Racine by Oct. 2017. It is bordered by I-94, county highways KR and H, and Braun Road. It was chosen for the easy accessibility to road and rail transportation.

— Lake County agencies raise Foxconn environmental alert  —