By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Natural Land Institute plans to rekindle its legal battle designed to prevent an ancient gravel prairie from being destroyed by an expansion of the Rockford airport.
Lawyers for the nonprofit conservation organization sent a 60-day notice to federal and state authorities and the Greater Rockford Airport Authority of its intent to sue in federal court over the destruction of the Bell Bowl Prairie.
The nonprofit previously sued on Oct. 26, 2021, but that lawsuit was dismissed in September 2022 after U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston determined it wasn’t “ripe for review.” However, he left open the possibility for the institute to take its lawsuit to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia or the Seventh Circuit.
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The nonprofit plans to do that, alleging that the federal, state and local organizations have failed to show that construction doesn’t jeopardize the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, which was discovered on the site in summer 2021.
That move comes after a Nov. 14 letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service clears the way for construction, saying the project won’t harm the endangered bee.
“USFWS is now — incomprehensibly — authorizing the type of development and construction on Bell Bowl Prairie (including road construction) that will lead to the extinction of the bee,” Joseph M. Russell, an attorney with von Briesen & Roper, states in the letter. “In short, USFWS is now abdicating its role in protecting the bee from extinction by authorizing the large-scale destruction of one of the last remaining Illinois prairies on which the bee currently depends for sustenance, nesting, overwintering and survival.”
The letter was sent to the to the U.S Department of Transportation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Illinois Department of Transportation, U.S Department of the Interior, Federal Aviation Administration and the Greater Rockford Airport Authority.
“It is not the last resort, but it is a continuation of one more tool in the toolbox to continue to try to protect Bell Bowl Prairie,” said Kimberly Wheeler Johnsen, director of marketing for Natural Land Institute.
She said the nonprofit also hired Geosyntec Consultants, which has prepared alternative designs that would allow the airport’s $50 million cargo expansion to move forward without building a road through one of the last vestiges of rare gravel prairie.
“There is a way for the airport to get everything they need out of their expansion without impacting what’s left of the prairie,” said Jillian Neece, a plant biologist from Roscoe who serves as an organizer with Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.
Neece offered those comments during Monday night’s Rockford City Council meeting, where numerous supporters of Bell Bowl Prairie filled the council chambers to plead with elected official to do their part to convince the Greater Rockford Airport Authority to change the construction plan.
“There’s real danger that the airport could destroy this ecosystem any day now, and we still don’t have any answers as to why,” Neece said. “We’ve been asking for over a year now, ‘why can’t this road be moved?’ Is it because there isn’t space for it to go anywhere else? Surely that can’t be the case as the airport owns over 3,000 acres of property and all we’re asking for is the protection of 14 acres.”
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Rockford airport officials have vowed to follow the guidance of federal authorities before moving forward with construction, but they plan to go forward with the expansion with federal authorities’ blessing.
The airport has noted that expansion will be critical to its continued success as one of the fastest-growing cargo airports in the world. The expansion is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs and up to 600 permanent jobs while further bolstering Rockford’s cargo operations.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.