Durbin: Senate Appropriations Committee Approves $25.8 Million to Prevent Spread of Emerald Ash Borer

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $25.8 million, $2 million for the state of Illinois, to combat and prevent the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer, which was recently found in DuPage County. This funding represents a significant increase from the $16.3 million - $1.5 million for Illinois - approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in last year's Agricultural Appropriations bill.

"The discovery of the Emerald Ash Borer in DuPage County is troubling news. Illinois has more than 131 million ash trees, with about 20 percent of the trees in the Chicago area," said Durbin. "The $2 million approved by the Senate committee will help Illinois officials develop a plan to meet this challenge and avert a potentially devastating situation. In the past few years, this insect has killed tens of millions of trees throughout the Midwest, and we need continue efforts to get ahead of this infestation."

A destructive insect known as the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) was recently discovered in DuPage County, Illinois. EAB is a bright green beetle that kills trees by burrowing into their bark and destroying the trees' ability to bring water from the roots to upper branches. Infected trees usually begin to die within two to three years. Under today's bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $25.8 million nationwide to be set aside for activities related to EAB. Senator Durbin wrote a letter to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture that garnered 24 cosigners in an effort to increase the funding over fiscal year 2007 levels.

On June 27, Durbin introduced bipartisan legislation to help municipalities defray the costs of performing Emerald Ash Borer management activities normally performed by the federal government. The Emerald Ash Borer Municipality Assistance Act of 2007, cosponsored by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and others will create a low-interest revolving loan fund for communities for the purchase of capital equipment and replacement trees to perform duties on municipal government land within quarantine areas. Communities would have a 20-year window to repay the loan. In addition, the bill would allow states to contract with local units of government to perform EAB duties.

On June 13th of 2006, immediately following the first sighting of the ash borer in Illinois, Durbin called on the USDA to develop a plan to curb the spread of this pest. Later that month, Durbin helped secure $1.5 million to combat and prevent the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. Durbin also sent a letter late last summer urging that certain affected locations in Illinois be declared federal emergency quarantine areas so that they can apply for low interest emergency loans to help eradicate the Emerald Ash Borer. Recently, Durbin announced a $100,000 USDA Forest Service grant to the Illinois Emerald Ash Borer Wood Utilization Team.

The Emerald Ash Borer was first sighted in 2002 in Michigan. Forestry experts estimate that the Emerald Ash Borer has been responsible for the devastation of than 12 million ash trees in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

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