CHICAGO - Last Thursday, Governor Pat Quinn unveiled a $1 Billion plan to update sewer lines and water treatment systems. And guess how he's going to pay for this program -- loans:
Timing the announcement to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act, Quinn described his administration's Clean Water Initiative as a jobs-creating effort to pull Illinois up from the nation's lower rungs in terms of water safety...
The expanded effort would create 9,700 construction jobs, plus thousands more indirect jobs, Quinn's office said...
State officials said more than 350 local governments have expressed interest in participating in the loan program. Roughly $930 million in proposed projects are awaiting review, though the application process is still open, officials said.
The state already lends $300 million to local governments for this type of work each year through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The state's finance authority is now leveraging a surplus built up in that program to issue $1 billion in bonds for the latest initiative.
