RECEIVErXonioo5
CLERK'S OFFICE
°'"X:-1)?
MAY 0 5 2008
STATE OF
ILLINOIS
Brief from Tom
Edwards for PCB case 08-42
Pollution
060081 Board
Synopsis:
1--
The Peoria Disposal Co.'s toxic waste landfill at Peoria is in the most hazardous
location in the nation relative to the health and well being of people.
2 --
Inspection, oversight, and control need to be vastly improved, and it needs to be
safely closed as soon as possible.
3 — Best alternative: The state needs to find the safest site possible for such a landfill, buy
it, and contract out and oversee its operation.
Status:
ORIGRAL
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is proposing changes in its permit
governing the Peoria Disposal Co.'s toxic waste landfill here. Yet it contains major
omissions, and changes that will weaken the permit. This is crucial to the Peoria area
environment because this "landfill" a) directly abuts the west edge of the City of Peoria, a
densely populated area; b) sits right over the aquifer from which most of Peoria and
adjacent communities draw their water; and c) takes in toxic waste from (so far) up to 15
other states. And this EPA landfill permit is slated to govern operation and closure of
the PDC landfill remain for the next 30 years
Overview of situation:
The toxic waste landfill of the Peoria Disposal Co. will be a major hazardous
environmental factor here, literally,
forever.
It is the elephant in our living room that
we have avoided_aeknowledging -- a
critical mistake
by both PDC and government. To
deal with it is going to take longterm
combined
financing and effort by both, All sides
need to work together to achieve a total solution -- and an example for others. We can.
We Need Far Better Oversight:
Of the still remaining active commercial toxic waste landfills in the nation (16 in only 13
states), the one at Peoria, owned by Peoria Disposal Co.(PDC), is in by far the most
dangerous location in regard to the health and welfare of people and a municipality.
Industries and communities of up to 15 states (so far) send their hazardous waste to be
"buried", literally, on a hill in Peoria that is as close as just 50 feet above the sand aquifer
from which most of the Peoria area draws its water supply, • It is the only active
commercial toxic waste landfill in the top half of the nation from this side of Indianapolis
to the Rocky Mountains.
PDC's toxic waste "landfill" at Peoria is the
only
still
active one in the nation that:
1)
Sits right above let alone close to an aquifer from which is pumped the majority of
a municipal area's drinking water, and
2) Is also located immediately upwind of the air Peorians must breathe.
Only nuclear waste is ranked more of a health hazard than the phalanx of toxic chemicals
(843 of them) that are permitted by the federal and state EPAs to be put in PDC's Peoria
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landfill, which abuts
the west city
boundary line. And there is
only one .
site in the nation,
•
in Nevada's desert mountains, being planned for a nuclear waste disposal site.
Water and air pollution
are the tWin hazards of PDC's toxic waste landfill. It is a
pollution hazard, present and potential, to the Peoria area's vital
ground
water supply.
And though research has shown air pollution to be a health hazard in the vicinity, of toxic
landfills elsewhere (see below), the ,IEPA has given that possibility virtually
?
no attention
•at
PDC's landfill, saying
,
it isn't a hazard
there.
Specific
Points and Recommendations:
1 -- Independent' inspections and testing direly needed:
EPA's
permit puts
virtually the:entire responsibility on PDC for monitoring, testing, and reporting on its •
own
landfill and performance rather than vice versa. EPA: inspectors say they visit the
landfill once, occasionally twice, a month. In effect, the EPA is having ,•the "permitee"
inspect himself. • In coritrast,the City of Peoria has inspectors on the job checking road
'and sidewalk .
projects the entire 8-hour work day:
2 —Illegal volume change: Original volume capacity limit for waste in the
• new (post 1987) part of the landfill
. was
.
originally set at 1.84 million cubic
• yards, but was upped :by ,PDC and EPA to 2.63
million .
cubic yards 'in 2002.
[Permit page V-1].
That is a
huge
43 % increase. Public hearings are required
for major changes. One was not held, making that expansion illegal
. .?
b. Moreover, when the' total capacity of the ,seven (7) cells 'of this part'
of
the • landfill are added, they total 2.87 million c.y., considerably' more •
than the stated 2.63 million c.y.total permitted limit Cited on the same page.
• c. Also,
PDC has evidently exceeded even the
.
2.63 . total
volume limit..
*The above all needs outside review nd
.
invest ation.
3 Reinstate
quarterly monitoring for leaks, problems.
Testing of water
samples from monitoring wells, now done quarterly, is proposed to instead be collected •
semi-annually, and a number only annually. Leaks could then go on .6 to 12 months
without discovery, greatly hindering leak detection and increasing pollution.
Continued quarterly monitoring, at the least, is
a
vital safeguard.
Even more
§_o after landfill closure, as pr
oblems
4 -- Much leaking reported from landfill's
new section by independent ,
consultants. It must be solved.
Or it
will be a constant, growing hazard for the
Peoria area, as the landfill sits over its drinking water
aquifer.
But Wine of this?
• •
leaking was found or. reported either by PDC or •the IEPA.
A
county hired
engineering consultant found Cell No.1 to be leaking. But a. privately hired geo-.
hydrologist Charles 'Norris of Denver, CO, found that all seven cells of the newer 'part
;.• (built since 1987) of the landfill, all with liners to prevent leaking,
in fact do leak.
Even the newest ones with "double liners" are leaking; probably straight .
down through
, the bottom, he reported.. (Therefore likely missing'•the 'monitoring, wells.)
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5 Pre-law, unlined section of landfill is ignored and likely leaking. Must
be monitored.
.PDC's landfill has been in operation 79 years, 58 years before
.
the state
began in 1987 requiring plastic liners, drains, etc: Because this older but larger section
. is
"pre-law" the EPA
,
does little if any inspection and monitoring of it.
(Love Canal, N.Y., had a pre-regulation landfill. Residents there went to
Washington and- pounded on Congressional doors to get action to relieve
them of the pollution sickening their community. 750 homes were razed.. It
woke
•up
.
EPA and the nation. Congress then
.
set up a massive fund to help
the host of other places with. pre-law dumps. It quickly ran out of money.)
6 -- A
dangerous location for people.
As stated above, Peoria is the nation's only
metro area with a toxic waste landfill sitting over'the city's main water source, and • .
immediately
.
upwind of a densely populated area. Research
in New Jersey and five
European..
Union countries of communities near toxic waste landfills showed
significantly higher , rates of birth defects, premature births, and in New .
York State a 15% higher rate of strokes. Air pollutants
.
from landfills are .
the main suspect. Peoria Co reports a very 'high
. infant mortality rate.
6 -- Peoria County has by far the highest chemical Toxic Release Inventory
of any county. in • Illinois, 4.3 times higher than Cook County's (Chicago), .
and 16th highest .
in the nation, according to a 2002 USEPA survey. In the
survey PDC's toxic releases were over 21 times higher. than the next highest
in the
county, which was ADM's ethanol plant: (News report to be attached.) •
7
--*Air pollution: The denied reality:
The IEPA has long been saying there is no
air pollution fronithe PDC landfill, But its closest monitor is 4.5 Miles away on a bank
building roof. . And recent detailed studies (noted above)
in New York State,
New Jersey, and the European Union show air pollution to be a major health
problem for. people living in the vicinity of toxic waste landfills.
In
an
'unauthorized visit into the PDC landfill last year I found behind a knoll a cluster of pipes
I2 to 15 inches in diameter sticking up 7 or more feet out of the ground. A whiff of the .
fumes they were venting sent me reeling. backwards. I reported this to an MPA inspector
of the site. He replied that he and the EPA were unaware of any air pollution or vents
•
for emissions on PDC's site, and, asked me where the vents were. I trust he reported this
vital knowledge to higher-ups. Other air pollutants
,
from the site
.
are certainly being
dispersed by. PDC elsewhere.
This
?
I
to be thoroughly and publicly,
investi ated the
ederal
EPA
""hick ha suzerainit i er the 'site. •
8. .Barrel trench: This needs an official public investigation! The
.
metal
barrels
.
certainly must
.
all be rusted away and their toxic contents loose.
This trench, reported as containing35,000 cubic yards of waste, was in operation from
1986 to 1990. It must
be
venting 'pollutants to the air.
But
a groundwater monitoring
well slated for installation
under
the barrel trench has yet to be 'installed 20 years later.
9 -- Test' for and. prevent 'escape of very. volatile
&
highly
•
toxic mercury.
Only 2% by weight of extremely toxic mercury is allowed in the present
.
and proposed
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permit. But for a 5-ton load of waste, 2% would amount to 200 pounds -- a whale of a
lot. But because only grab samples from the top of any incoming load are tested, and
loads may be left sitting out for weeks or months after arrival, any mercury would have
volatilized into the city's air. Its actual quantities are, therefore, unaccountable. .
10 -- Taking & testing groundwater samples: PDC sets the day, time and means
for collecting samples, not the EPA. Also, the bulk of the testing of the samples is
reportedly given over by the EPA to PDC, which PDC also does in its own Peoria lab.
11 -- Problem reporting:
The EPA permit gives PDC 30 days to report any problems
it may find, even breakdowns in the landfill. That is an inordinate length of time.
12 --Why is this landfill for toxic waste located right in a heavily populated
area
v^h^n there_are_.over 100x000
acres
of former
stripmine land in the 4
county Peoria area. and much more elsewhere?
The IEPA says the
legislature has given it no authority to take into account "location," only
operation rules, and that location is up to the land owner and local officials.
13 -- The public hearing held by the county board two years ago on PDC's
landfill was the longest (6 days and evenings) and most attended in county
history.The county board voted 12 to 6 not to issue a new operating permit.
Previously a Circuit Court ruling in Chicago held that any increase in
original landfill capacity, up, down, or sideways, is expansion.
LEGAL
PREFACE
BASIS
TO BRIEF
FOR
FROM
CASE
TOM
PCB
EDWARDS,
08-42, -----
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2 .) 7;1
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
ARTICLE XI
ENVIRONMENT
Section 1, Public Policy - Legislative Responsibility,
The public policy of the State and the duty of each person is to provide and maintain a
healthful environment for the benefit of this
and future generations.
The General
Assembly shall provide by law for the implementation and enforcement of this public
policy.
Section 2. Rights of Individuals.
Each person has the right to a healthful environment.
Each person may enforce this
right against any party, governmental or private, through appropriate legal proceedings
subject to reasonable limitation and regulation
as
the General Assembly may provide by
law.
PREAMBLE TO THE ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT
2, (a) The General Assembly finds:
(i)
that environmental damage seriously endangers the public health and welfare,
as
more specifically described in later sections of this
Act;
(vi) that despite the existing laws and regulations concerning environmental (image
there exists continuing destruction and damage to the environment and harm to the public
health, safety and welfare of the people of this State,
and that among the most
significant sources of this destruction, damage, and harm are the improper and
unsafe transportation, treatment, storage, disposal, and dumping of hazardous
wastes;
(b) It is the purpose of this Act,
as
more specifically described in later sections, to
establish a unified, state-wide program supplemented by private remedies,
to restore,
protect and enhance the quality of the environment, and to assure that adverse
effects upon the environment are fully considered and borne by those who cause
them.
c) The terms and provisions of this Act
shall be liberally construed
so as to effectuate
the purposes of this Act [720 ILCS 5/1-1 et seq.].