By: Diane Benjamin
Understand the title?
It is an abbreviation for Southeast McLean County Water Authority. I wrote about them last year when a new line appeared on my property tax bill: https://blnnews.com/2025/05/16/new-line-on-my-property-tax-bill/
I found no trace of this organization on the County website. They claim to be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act but not knowing anything about them or when they meet makes that difficult. (actually impossible)
I tried again this year to get more information – this time from County Treasurer Rebecca McNeil. She responded yesterday:
During the June 2025 McLean County Board meeting the following individuals were appointed: Mike McLaughlin, Raul Martinez, and Russell Benjamin. I do not have contact information for these members. However, I can request it from the County Administration if you would like. Our point of contact for the Southeastern McLean County Water Authority is McGrath Law Firm out of Mackinaw, Office # 309-359-3461. Please direct your questions about the district to their office or the district members. You probably have the attached document. I have included the County Clerk in case you want to request a copy of latest filed tax levy or other documents.Â
These are not the same people in what I received last year. Also, Russell Benjamin is my brother-in-law! So I called him last night.
Evidently this water authority has existed for a long time but they just started taxing people within the boundaries. Their purpose for existing is to protect the Mahomet Aquifer, the taxes are mostly to pay legal fees from the Grath Law firm. I’ve mentioned them numerous times since they have cornered the legal market in numerous small towns west of Bloomington-Normal.
This group is very worried about the ethanol plant in Gibson City. CO2 is a byproduct of making ethanol. The Ford County Board evidently passed something that doesn’t allow drilling CO2 wells, so they turned to McLean County. Remember the 2 leaks ADM in Decatur experienced in wells they drilled? https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/11/the-nations-first-commercial-carbon-sequestration-plant-is-in-illinois-it-leaks/
Illinois passed a bill last year banning sequestration at the Mahomet Aquifer: https://ipmnewsroom.org/what-to-know-about-signed-bill-banning-carbon-sequestration-at-the-mahomet-aquifer/ Accoding to my State Rep, Regan Deering, the Gibson City plant was exempted because State Representative Carol Ammons, who represents Urbana, wanted it. Deering claims they are drilling into a “discharge zone” and not the aquifer. Russ Benjamin, newly appointed, thought they were drilling through the aquifer. Either way sounds dangerous to the water supply.
This group is meeting again in March. It sounds like I need to attend.
This document was included in what Rebecca McNeil sent, it is the same one I got last year but I didn’t know any of the members or contact information:
So did the so called “green energy environmentalists” find a loophole around local municipalities and state laws? Drilling pipes down deep into allegedly areas of porous embedment, allowing the CO2 gas to fill in the holes and be stored, near the aquifer, pumping in “naturally occurring” carbon dioxide, less than .004% of the earths atmosphere, for alleged “storage”. This is done under tremendous pressure, which will naturally absorb into the surrounding embedment, and if that is near or has channels, just like the way the aquifer is replenished by rainwater, to the nearby Aquifer, the CO2 will mix with the fresh water and cause a chemical reaction creating CARBONIC ACID, changing the PH and polluting the fresh water.
It’s sad that certain politicians, just for a vote, can single-handedly, ignore the will of so many communities alone. Lobbyists must have paid or promised the kids and grandkids either a great free education or a lifetime retirement gig for grandpa. What a joke.