ILLINOIS WETLANDS MEETING MONDAY

VIENNA, Ill. -- Landowners who may be confused about how new wetlands regulations will affect how their land may or may not be used are urged to attend a wetlands informational meeting to be held here Monday.

"What you could farm or build on before may now be protected," said U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard. D-Ill., who will sponsor two meetings Monday to discuss the revisions to the Clean Water Act, which expanded the definition of wetlands.

Representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Conservation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will attend meetings, to be held at Vienna and Nashville.

"I think it's important for farmers to meet with these representatives," said Poshard. "We'll be sharing information on the rules and regulations so landowners can obey the law and still have use of their property."

The first meeting Monday will be held at the Johnson County Co-operative Extension Office at 208 E. Main in Vienna. A second session will be held at 7 p.m. at the Farm Bureau Building in Nashville, Ill.

Poshard discussed the clean air standards during a Friday meeting at West Frankfort.

"I'm working on legislation to provide tax breaks to help utilities meet new clean air standards and still burn Southern Illinois coal," Poshard told a group Friday. "This follow up was on an idea I proposed the day after the Clean Air Act was passed."

Poshard said he fully supported a clean environment, but "the way we're going about it is unfair to Southern Illinois and the Midwest," he said.

Poshard is proposing a 20 percent Environmental Tax Credit for utilities which complies with the Clean Air Act by installing scrubbers to clean their emissions.

"Without financial help, utilities will have a hard time affording the scrubbers to meet the air standards and might switch to lower-sulfur coal," said Poshard. "We think this is an investment in cleaner air, productive coal mines, affordable energy, and above all the people who depend on all of those things on a daily basis."

Poshard is working with a coalition of lawmakers, including several members of the Illinois congressional delegation, and other coal state representatives to come up with practical solutions to the economic and environmental problems at hand.

Other ingredients of the proposal include tax-exempt bonds, write-offs for emission control equipment, and tax credits for minerals used in the cleansing process in scrubbers.

"When Congress passed clean air legislation in 1970, these kinds of tax breaks were available," said Poshard. "This time they are not, and that puts our economy at risk. We feel this is a reasonable proposal to clean up the air, keep the coal miners working, and keep utility rates in line."

The proposed federal budget for fiscal year 1992 includes a $600 million cut in clean coal research.

"This is outrageous," said Poshard. "Here we are fighting a war in part because we depend on foreign oil, and we're looking for cleaner energy sources, and the coal research budget is cut. I'm going to fight that cut tooth and nail."