Barge users get subsidized transportation from the Corps of Engineers on the Mississippi River. Army engineers get to stay on the payroll.
Past environmental sins like the creek that flowed past the old Chicago Stockyards called Bubbly Creek has money thrown at it.
Suburban developers who build homes where a diminished watershed pushed streams out of their beds during rains like last weekends get big money spent to lessen the impact of poor planning.
And congressmen take credit.
Even ex-congressmen like Ray LaHood and Ron Emanuel.
Below is what’s in this year’s budget.
Again I have listed the U.S. House member named first, if there is more than one or if Senator Dick Durbin is also named. Only projects where Durbin is the only congressman identified are listed under his name. There is really no way to know which congressman was most influential in getting projects where more than one is named.
Taxpayers for Common Sense gets the credit for posting the information where I could find it.
Melissa Bean
Corps of Engineers $28,709,000 Bean, Davis, Jackson, Roskam, Rush, Schakowsky, Durbin – McCook and Thorton Reservoirs
Jerry Costello
Corps of Engineers $502,000 Costello, Shimkus, Durbin – Prairie Dupont Levee and Sanitary District and Fish Lake Drainage and Levee District, IL
Corps of Engineers $2,392,000 Costello, Shimkus, Durbin – Chain of Rocks Canal, Mississippi River, IL (Def Corr)
Corps of Engineers $718,000 Costello, Shimkus, Durbin – E. Saint Louis, IL
Corps of Engineers $335,000 Costello, Shimkus – Madison and St. Clair Counties, IL
Corps of Engineers $2,632,000 Costello, Shimkus, Durbin – Wood River Levee, IL
Corps of Engineers No Price Given O&M Costello – Kaskaskia River Navigation, IL
Danny Davis
Corps of Engineers No Price Given Sec. 206 Davis – Ping Tom, IL
Dick Durbin
Corps of Engineers $478,000 Durbin – Des Plaines River, Il (Phase II)
Corps of Engineers $125,000 Durbin – E. Saint Louis and Vicinity, IL
Corps of Engineers $2,486,000 Durbin, Bond – Lock and Dam 27, Mississippi River, (Major Rehab)
Corps of Engineers $144,000 Durbin – Nutwood Drainage and Levee District, IL
Corps of Engineers No Price Given Sec. 206 Durbin – Squaw Creek (Round Lake Drain), IL
Phil Hare
Corps of Engineers No Price Given Sec. 206 Hare, LaHood, Durbin – Emiqoin Preserve, IL
Corps of Engineers No Price O&M Hare – Andalusia Harbor, IL
Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Corps of Engineers $500,000 Jackson, Durbin – Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Second Barrier, IL
Corps of Engineers $4,000,000 Jackson, Durbin – Chicago Shoreline, IL
Corps of Engineers $125,000 Jackson, Lipinski – Cook County, IL
Corps of Engineers No Price Given Sec. 1135 Jackson – Indian Ridge Marsh, IL
Corps of Engineers No Price Given Sec. 1135 Jackson – Spunky Bottoms, IL
Tim Johnson
Corps of Engineers $96,000 Johnson – Grayville Dam, IL
Ray LaHood
Corps of Engineers $382,000 LaHood – Illinois River Basin Restoration, IL
Corps of Engineers $48,000 LaHood, Durbin – Peoria Riverfront Development, IL
Corps of Engineers No Price Given Sec. 205 LaHood – Meredosia, IL
Dan Lipinski
Corps of Engineers $411,000 Lipinski – S. Fork, South Branch, Chicago River (Bubbly Creek), IL
Don Manzullo
Corps of Engineers $526,000 Manzullo, Durbin – Keith Creek, Rockford, IL
Peter Roskam
Corps of Engineers $5,750,000 Roskam, et al – Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Dispersal Barrier, IL
Corps of Engineers $7,500,000 Roskam, Durbin – Des Plaines River, IL
John Shimkus
Corps of Engineers No Price Given O&M Shimkus, Durbin – Lake Shelbyville, IL
= = = = =
The Algonquin dam was rebuilt by the U.S. Corps of Engineers recently. You see what it looked like last year when it was wide open.
In descending order, there are pictures of Melissa Bean, Dick Durbin (talking to Don Manzullo), Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Don Manzullo.