Congressional supporters of expanding O’Hare International Airport announced revamped legislation Wednesday intended to address environmental concerns about the project, while Chicago officials floated a new study that they said shows the plan’s vast economic benefits for two nearby suburbs.
Some legislators and environmental groups had criticized the federal legislation aimed at cementing into federal law the O’Hare expansion agreement, which was reached in December between Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. George Ryan. They had said the city’s $6.6 billion runway-expansion project would short-circuit the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws.
But during the announcement of the revised legislation Wednesday in Washington, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said “no exceptions would be made” to environmental provisions and the Chicago airport project would receive no favors.
The new legislation deleted wording that had called for a federal takeover of the project if it were delayed and stated that the plan is subject to all environmental and safety regulations.
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The revision also closes loopholes in the original bill regarding Illinois’ air-pollution laws that could have eased emissions-control limits meant for O’Hare and shifted the requirements to other pollution sources.
Daley and Ryan are scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate Commerce Committee in an effort to advance the project as quickly as possible.
The legislation directs the Federal Aviation Administration to oversee the O’Hare expansion and construction of a new airport near south suburban Peotone. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), who has long opposed the O’Hare project, is a member of the committee.
Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club, an environmental watchdog group, said it was too soon to determine whether the revised legislation had adequately addressed concerns.
Meanwhile, the new study commissioned by Chicago concluded that more than 1,400 jobs would be created in Bensenville and Elk Grove Village for each increase of 1 million airline passengers.
The analysis, conducted by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was billed as the first study to look at the economic effect of the expansion plan on neighboring communities.
The city paid the university $25,000 for the study, which one of its authors acknowledged produced “pretty obvious” findings that more flights at O’Hare would mean greater economic benefits for the region.
There was one surprise, said economics professor Joseph Persky. The anticipated job gains in manufacturing and wholesaling related to airport expansion would be accompanied by a modest loss of employment in retailing, transportation, communications and utilities in Bensenville and Elk Grove Village.
“This study is another attempted smokescreen by the city. Their job growth is addition by subtraction,” Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said. “We stand to lose 35,000 jobs in Elk Grove because of Daley’s land grab. Where do you put the new jobs if the businesses in our industrial parks have been mowed down for the airport expansion?”