Part of a lawsuit to block a barge fleeting operation from being built in Grundy County is upheld. Judge Sheldon Sobol says allowing such an operation on the Illinois River requires an act of the General Assembly. He referred to a 1907 law for protecting navigation.
Rick and Gloria Sims own land along the river east of Seneca across from where Illinois and Michigan Oil wants to develop a fleeting operation to accommodate up to 106 barges. The Simses say such a big operation there would ruin the river’s beauty. The judge’s ruling doesn’t recognize them as being able to sue for their own interests. But it does say the governor and state’s attorney general have a special duty to prevent anything from being built in or across the Illinois River without the legislature’s approval.
There’ll be another hearing in the case the week of Thanksgiving. If whatever happens next isn’t clear by then, it may be influenced by what’s discussed in the hearing.