Clerk of the Board
Illinois Pollution Control Board
100 W. Randolph
Suite 11-500
Chicago, IL 60601
liECEMED
`CLERK'S
OFFICE
JAN
2008
0-
F, OF
ILLINOIS
Control Board
RECEIVED
CLERK'S OFFICE
Dec. 31, 2007
JAN 0 4 2008
STATE
OF ILLINOIS
Pollution Control Board
Tz-so,
41-
Re: Request for time extension to appeal IPCB permit to PDC
Dear Sirs:
With this letter we hereby request :
An extension of one month, January, to file appeals of the IEPA's new penult
(temied "permit renewal") issued by the IEPA for the continued operation of the Peoria
Disposal Co.'s hazardous waste landfill at Peoria with no terminal date.
Enclosed is an "overview" of objections and history, which will be followed with
detailed objections and suggestions.
Explanation:
1) The period given by the IEPA to respond to its permit decision was precisely
coterminous with the Christmas holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year's Day) when
people are deeply preoccupied with family and friends -- as I have been with my
far-flung children and grandchildren.
2)
This is a vital matter to the health and welfare of the people, and vitality, of the Peoria
area, perhaps the most vital local issue in its history. Yet there has been no publicity
about the existence of the revision of this hugely important permit.
3) There is
no need
to rush public response to this very technical document. It has been in
effect, with IEPA extensions, for 20 years and has two years to go (2009) under its
present extension. Its proposed replacement by the IEPA -- and first ever provision for
public review -- deserves much more appropriate time for this needed review.
Thank you,
Tom Edwards/River
Rescue
902 W. Moss Ave.
Peoria, IL 61606
To: Illinois Pollution Control Board:
From:
Tom Edwards/River
Rescue
Dec. 31, 2007
902 W. Moss Ave., Peoria, IL 61606
Submitted with request for one month time extension for:
Appeal of IEPA's Nov. 27, '07 RCRA permit renewal for PDC's Peoria landfill
Preview
of appeal follows:
Overview: Toxic Waste Landfill Endangers Peoria Area
Why would a government agency want to extend operation of what is now realized to
be a dangerously located toxic waste landfill that puts the people of a major community in
harms way? That is the situation with Peoria Disposal Co.'s hazardous waste landfill.
The daily dumping of highly toxic waste from much of the nation at PDC's Peoria
landfill risks the well being of people of this area to benefit other communities -- and the
landfill's owners.
It is a sacrifice
that does not have to be made, or permitted by EPA.
Instead, we need to have Illinois become a leader in safe, sane disposal of toxic, poisonous
waste. But at present the state
and
federal EPAs permit
843
of the nation's most toxic
chemicals from, so far, 15 states to either be put on a hilltop on Peoria's west edge to,
later, be dirt covered and called a "landfill" -- or volatilize into the air, as much does.
1)PDC's toxic waste landfill, the only operating one in Illinois, is also the
only
one of 16
in 13 states that even sits
near
an aquifer from which most of a city's water is pumped.
And PDC's sits directly over Peoria's aquifer, as close as 50 feet above it.
2) PDC' s landfill is
also
the only such one nationally that is immediately upwind of a
municipality and the air its people breathe --
and that also has a dense population
living right up to the perimeter of such a landfill let alone near one.
But staff of the Illinois EPA say they are not allowed to take into consideration the
above two hugely vital matters to health and welfare.
Also, neither were weighed in the
issuance of PDC' s toxic waste permit in 1987 by just learning government regulators. It
was superimposed upon PDC' s then 60-year-old general dumping site.
And now with less than two years left on PDC's present greatly extended permit --
instead of closure the IEPA is putting its efforts into "permit renewal" despite the Peoria
County Board having exercised its legal right and voted
"no"
to a new permit. PDC
appealed, but the county denial was upheld by the Illinois Pollution Control Board.
Recent scientific analyses of people elsewhere living near such toxic landfills have shown
higher rates of birth defects, premature births, and strokes in older people. The federal
EPA ranks Peoria County by far highest in Illinois for toxic chemical releases, and 16th
in nation, with PDC's releases 21 times greater than the next highest in Peoria County.
While the IEPA presses to keep the PDC landfill in operation, there is no indication it is
even suggesting safer, superior sites. IEPA staffers emphasize they are
not
allowed to do
that, either.
Yet Peoria County is surrounded by over 100,000 acres of stripmined land,
including 17,000 acres of such vacant land owned by Cook County Sanitary District.
Page 2
EPA's permit to PDC was originally for 10 years. But via extensions it is now in its 21st
year. EPA has until now been regularly granting extensions without public hearings that
it is mandated to hold. Now the IEPA has been preparing substitute permit language
rather than preparing for closure of the landfill. The new permit issue has been before
the county board for 4 years, the length of World War II.
Yet IEPA is giving just this month -- the Christmas holiday period when
people are most preoccupied -- for the public to digest its new 197-page
highly technical permit.
Yet, PDC has already well exceeded the EPA's original permitted waste volume, though
it is titularly still in effect. And PDC has applied for a permit to triple its volume --
which would make its humongous hill of toxic waste the
highest
hill, by far, in its
vicinity.
If we knew in 1987 what we know now, such a landfill in that location would certainly
never have been permitted. State and federal officials need to correct that mistake. They
can if they will.
We ask that, rather than a new permit, the EPA concentrate on simply
getting:
1)
Closure and post-closure regulations greatly strengthened;
2)
And stronger state laws regarding such landfills.
(Note: Sources are available for all the above points.)