Kankakee Times

Great Lakes Basin Transportation (GLBT) has proposed a plant that would require the use of eminent domain to acquire property for a 260-mile railway, tollway and airport, which Rep. Lindsay Parkhurst (R-Kankakee) opposes on the grounds that those facilities will be privately owned.

“The use of eminent domain in our state and our nation is to provide land for public use in appropriate instances,” Parkhurst said. “It is not for private gain and the GLBT project plans just that — taking private productive land for private individual gain.”

According to estimates in a release from Parkhurst on the GLBT project, it would cost Grundy County residents approximately $70 million and Kankakee County residents approximately $90 million per year due to lost agricultural revenue. The plan is with the Federal Surface Transportation Board (STB), which will accept public comments on the project before determining whether it is approved. Parkhurst is encouraging her constituents to file comments opposing the plan.

“This proposed plan is economically not feasible, not sound, and not sensible,” Parkhurst said. “It improperly damages the rights of property owners who rightfully own the land in its path, endangers the Kankakee River and local wildlife and habitats, and tears apart the communities who depend on that land.”