Statement: With President Biden’s signature, Illinois will receive vital infrastructure investments

Bipartisan bill will mean clean air, water and energy for Illinoisans

Environment Illinois

Chicago — President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law Monday. The bill directs historic investments to Illinois including:

• $11.2 billion to repair and upgrade roads, bridges, and walkways and bikeways

• Funding to reduce global warming pollution from transportation, including $4 billion for public transit, $149 million to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations in Illinois, and more than $4 billion Illinois can apply for in nationwide grants to electrify transit vehicles

• $2.5 billion available in nationwide grants to electrify Illinois’s school buses

• $1.7 billion to clean up Illinois’s waterways, remove lead pipes, and address lead in schools’ drinking water

• Nationwide, the bill provides $73 billion to strengthen the electrical grid and for energy efficiency and weatherization programs

The legislation also restores a “polluter pays” tax to fund clean-up of toxic waste sites via the Superfund program.

Environment Illinois in 2020 released a report, Blueprint for America, calling for many of the infrastructure investments included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In response to the bill’s signing, Paloma Paez-Coombe, Environment Illinois Associate, released the following statement:

“Outdated infrastructure endangers Illinoisans’ health and our state’s environment. Pipes leach lead into our kids’ drinking water and leak sewage into our waterways. Our transportation system pollutes our air and doesn’t provide enough safe options for Illinois residents. The bipartisan infrastructure bill will make greatly needed progress toward solving these problems and leave Illinois stronger and healthier than before, and we’re glad to see it signed into law thanks to support from both sides of the aisle.”