Section 70 ILCS 1832/20 - DutiesIt shall be the duty of the port district:
(a) To study the existing harbor plans within the area of the district and to recommend to the appropriate governmental agency, including the General Assembly of Illinois, any changes and modifications that may from time to time be required by continuing development and to meet changing business and commercial needs;(b) To make an investigation of conditions within the area of the district and to prepare and adopt a comprehensive plan for the development of port facilities and intermodal facilities for the district. In preparing and recommending changes and modifications in existing harbor plans or a comprehensive plan for the development of port facilities and intermodal facilities, the district may, if it deems desirable, set aside and allocate an area or areas within the lands held by it to be used and operated by the district or leased to private parties for industrial, manufacturing, commercial, recreational, or harbor purposes, where the area or areas are not, in the opinion of the district, required for its primary purposes in the development of harbor, port, and intermodal facilities for the use of public water and land transportation, or will not be immediately needed for those purposes, and where the use and operation or leasing will in the opinion of the district aid and promote the development of terminal, port, and intermodal facilities;(c) To study and make recommendations to the proper authority for the improvement of terminal, lighterage, wharfage, warehousing, transfer, and other facilities necessary for the promotion of commerce and the interchange of traffic within, to, and from the district;(d) To study, prepare, and recommend by specific proposals to the General Assembly changes in the jurisdiction of the district;(e) To petition any federal, State, municipal, or local authority, administrative, judicial, and legislative, having jurisdiction in the district for the adoption and execution of any physical improvement, change in method, system of handling freight, warehousing, docking, lightering, and transfer of freight that, in the opinion of the district, may be designed to improve or better the handling of commerce in and through the district or improve terminal or transportation facilities within the district;(f) To foster, stimulate, and promote the shipment of cargoes and commerce through ports, whether originating within or without the State of Illinois;(g) To acquire, construct, own, lease, and develop terminals, wharf facilities, piers, docks, warehouses, bulk terminals, grain elevators, tug boats, and other harbor crafts, and any other port facility or port-related facility or service that it finds necessary and convenient;(h) To perform any other act or function that may tend to or be useful toward development and improvement of harbors, sea ports, and port-related facilities and services and to increase foreign and domestic commerce through the harbors and ports within the port district; and(i) To study and make recommendations for river resources management and environmental education within the district, including but not limited to, wetlands banks, mitigation areas, water retention and sedimentation areas, fish hatcheries, or wildlife sanctuaries, natural habitat, and native plant research. P.A. 90-636, eff. 7/24/1998.