8
together representatives of the public and private sectors to facilitate risk- and
science-based decision-making. Basin indicators will be developed by the LaMP.
Manage and provide public access to Great Lakes data. USEPA's integrated
Great Lakes information system, developed by GLNPO and its state and federal
partners, will deliver LMMB, and other, scientifically sound, easily accessible
environmental information to decision makers and the public by traditional means
and via the Internet. GLNPO will pilot techniques to provide public access to
LMMB data via the Internet.
Provide and promote community-based environmental protection, especially
in AOC’s. USEPA will work side-by-side with, and provide funding for, local
communities to address the environmental problems they determine to be of the
highest priority.
IEPA will continue to give priority to restoration and long term protection of Lake
Michigan. We will support and participate in activities of Region 5’s Lake Michigan
Team including development of the Lake Michigan lakewide management plan
(LaMP) and participation in the Lake Michigan monitoring coordinating council, a
revised 5-year Great Lakes Strategy, the Cook County area PCB/Mercury pollution
prevention initiative, the Lake Calumet area wetlands initiative, and the
environmental indicators workgroup. The Agency is also actively pursuing
numerous other Great Lakes activities including completion of Waukegan Harbor
remediation, ecosystem restoration and ultimately its delisting as an Area of
Concern (AOC), and participation in multi-state activities (IJC, Council of Great
Lakes Governors initiatives, the Corps of Engineers Great Lakes Dredging Team,
the Great Waters provisions of the Clean Air Act). Of particular interest from the
broader Great Lakes wide perspective, the Agency will continue participation in
GLNPO’s implementation plan for the Binational Toxics Strategy. Some of IEPA's
P2 programs help support this effort.
• Greater Chicago Initiative - The Greater Chicago Initiative (GCI) focuses on Cook
County, Illinois, particularly on the environmental justice areas of the Southeast and
West Sides of the City of Chicago. The purpose of the Initiative is to work with
local stakeholders, including Region 5, the State of Illinois, Cook County, the City of
Chicago, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, other
Federal, State, and regional agencies, industry, and citizens to coordinate various
government and private environmental activities for the purposes of effectiveness and
efficiency. An important function of the Initiative is to address environmental
problems that fall outside the purview of the regulatory agencies’ base programs.
These are often areas of environmental concern that will require innovative
approaches to long standing environmental problems that have been very difficult to
solve.
The focus areas of the Initiative suffer from a range of problems associated with
aging industry, decay of infrastructure, job flight, and general urban malaise. Yet
positive qualities, some unique, have also been attributed to the area: cultural and
