One of Congressman Weller's top
priorities as a Member of the House of Representatives is ensuring that local
projects receive priority in Washington’s
budget. That is why he has fought to bring home millions of dollars to
meet our local needs in Illinois,
including the Congressman's top local priority, redevelopment of the Joliet
Arsenal.
Congressman Weller's legislation, The Illinois Land
Conservation Act, passed on February 10, 1996. This historic legislation
was locally led and supported by the Citizens Planning Commission, charged with
creating a plan for redevelopment. Congressman Weller is pleased to have
worked with local residents on developing and implementing a balanced plan for
the Joliet Arsenal which created the Midewin
National Tallgrass Prairie, the Deer Run
Industrial Park, and the Abraham
Lincoln National Cemetery.
History
The Joliet Army Ammunition Plant was born
from the need of the United
States for munitions in 1941. At its
height, the Joliet Arsenal produced over half of all the TNT used by the Army
and employed 12,000 people.
The Joliet Arsenal was active during World War II and
the Korean and Vietnam
Wars before it was closed in 1977. Today the Joliet Arsenal serves as a
shining example not only of a transition from wartime to peacetime, but also
how locally led coalitions partnering with government and business can effect
positive change in their community.
Deer Run Industrial
Park
On August 10, 2000, the United States Army began to
transfer land for the development of the Deer Run Industrial Park. It is now
transformed from one of the largest Brownfield sites in Illinois into a center of commerce.
What was an unusable parcel of land is now North America’s
largest inland port, with intermodal truck and rail freight facilities under
the leadership of CenterPoint Properties and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.
CenterPoint has been instrumental in the clean-up and
development of the former Joliet Arsenal. The site is one of the most important economic engines in our region: Currently 3,500
people are employed at the site, which is at 75% of its capacity.
Additionally, upwards of $1.5 billion has been invested in our local economy,
thanks to the nine global companies that call CenterPoint home.
The
CenterPoint Intermodal Center is one of the largest private developments in North America. Totaling over 2,200 acres, the project
will create 17 million square feet of industrial space and a freight rail
facility under the operation of the Burlington Northern &
Santa Fe Railroad. Currently the BNSF Logistics Park performs 750,000 cargo container lifts a year (roughly 2,000 a day), with a capacity to perform 1 million lifts.
Midewin
National Tallgrass Prairie
Known as the "Gift to Future Generations," the
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, the largest conservation area of its kind,
is rapidly becoming a national model for environmental redevelopment. The
first national prairie east of the Mississippi,
large scale efforts to restore the natural prairie and improve facilities at
Midewin continue today. The United States Forest Service has continued to
acquire parcels of land adjacent to the Midewin as part of the overall
rehabilitation program for the prairie and wetlands.
The long term development plan includes restoring the
prairie on old crop fields by replanting native species of plants. Given
the scale of the Midewin’s prairie restoration program, immense amounts of
plant material will be needed. Planners at Midewin grow much of the seed
and plants on sight.
Several fields planted with seed beds and prairie grass
fields are serving as a plant source. Eventually, there will be
approximately 200 acres of beds producing seed for at least 350 species of
native plants. This diversity will allow restoration of woodlands,
savannas, prairies and wetlands at Midewin.
Congressman Weller's commitment to
the prairie has remained strong, working with his colleagues in Congress to
acquire $9 million in funding for Midewin since its inception.
Abraham
Lincoln National Cemetery
The Abraham
Lincoln National
Veterans Cemetery
was dedicated on October 3, 1999. The nation’s second largest veterans’
cemetery, it honors American men and women who served our country with honor
and courage. How appropriate it is that the former Joliet Arsenal which
helped to build our country’s strength in battle now gracefully embraces our
veterans in its soil while comforting their families with its serenity and
peace.
President Abraham Lincoln founded the National Cemetery
system during the Civil War. He understood our nation’s veterans deserved
a final resting place of honor, dignity, and gratitude. Rightfully, the
cemetery has been named in his honor. Thanks to the dedication of
countless Illinois
veterans, the success of the cemetery has been ensured.
