Comment on U.S. Steps Up S&P Inquiry

Chicago birders are calling on the Illinois Quantum Computing and Microelectronics Park, proposed for a former U. S. Steel plant site on the South Side, to do more to prevent deadly window collisions and harmful habitat loss. The high-profile park, which has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding, would be located on the shores of Lake Michigan, in the path of major spring and fall bird migrations. “It raises the problem of another McCormick Place,” said Chicago Bird Alliance President Judy Pollock, referring to the deaths of at least 960 birds at a single glassy lakeside building on a single day in 2023. “It’s right on the lakefront, so you can have a lot of collisions there,” she said. In a letter sent Sunday to the Chicago Plan Commission, birding and bird conservation groups called for safety features throughout all buildings at the proposed 440-acre quantum park, including bird-friendly glass to reduce collisions. Bird groups want the highest level of bird protection measures, as laid out in the city’s sustainable development policy, as well as limits on light levels at project boundaries, more native plants and landscaping, a temporary limit on buildings higher than 50 feet, a sound study and assurances that authorized bird collision monitors will be allowed access to the park. The letter also voiced support for neighborhood groups that are calling for a community benefits agreement, an environmental impact study and a commitment to creating jobs for local residents. “Everyone’s excited about jobs, and rightfully so — it’s an area that needs jobs,” said Pollock.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Oil and chemical companies who created a high-profile alliance to end plastic pollution have produced 1,000 times more new plastic in five years than the waste they diverted from the environment, according to new data obtained by Greenpeace. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) was set up in 2019 by a group of companies which include ExxonMobil, Dow, Shell, TotalEnergies, and ChevronPhillips, some of the world’s biggest producers of plastic.

Flying during the Thanksgiving holiday is likely to be terrible—as usual. The lobbying group Airlines for America anticipates a record 31 million people will take to the air to visit family and friends for the holiday. But no matter how terrible the flying experience might be this season, it will probably be as good as it gets for a long time to come, as the second Trump administration plans to take a wrecking ball to commercial airline regulation. Under Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the federal Department of Transportation has made a priority of tackling some of the biggest gripes Americans have had about air travel.

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