ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January

26,

1984

TO~7NOF OTTAWA,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 83—135

LASALLE COUNTY BOARD

)

and STATES LAND

IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION,

Respondents.

VILLAGE OF NAPLATE,

Petitioner,

V.

)

PCB 83—136

LASALLE COUNTY

BOARD

and STATES LAND

IMPORVEMENT CORPORATION

Resfondents.

DISSENTING OPINION

(by

J,

D.

Dumelle):

A landfill siting appeal

decision

is a

weighty

one.

On that

decision can rest the safety of an aquifer

supplying water to

residents of the area.

I agree with the Board majority in most

aspects of the

instant case,

The proceedings were fundamentally fair.

Conditions M

and

N were properly deleted by the

County and are

not needed

for

the safety of the site.

My dissent is based upon the great probability

that buried

railroad

ties and trees exist upon the site,

These wood materials

will decompose and create conduits for leachate

travel to the

aquifer.

The

original owner of the site, John

Duhach,

testified that

when he

acquired the site

“all the wood was there”

(R.

1458).

He

56-97

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2

refers

to the

4”

x

12”

planks

16

ft.

long butted

tightly together

and the

4” x

4” ties

6 ft. long placed 1½

ft.

apart.

Total

length

of railroad bed existing was from 1,800 to

2,000

feet.

(R.

1460).

Thus, using the lower figure of

1,800 feet of

bed

some

1,800 planks each one foot wide remained and

some 1,200 ties

spaced 1½

feet apart were on the site.

The ties and planks were buried by Mr. Dubach as

the

shale

was moved

sideways to get at the coal and fire

clay which

lay

below.

(R,

1521—2),

The trees existing on the

site

were

buried

by

National Fireproofing Ca, when they owned the

site

before Mr.

Dubach,

(R.

1535),

A later owner of the site, John Bernardoni,

was evasive when

asked about

the railroad timbers,

(R,

1667—8),

The crane operator,

Herbert

Carr stated that he had not buried either

planks or ties.

(R,

1674),

The testimony on this important point is contradictory.

Whom does one believe?

Dr. Eric

Zimmerman,

an environmental engineer, testified

that timbers could act as a conduit

for liquids.

(P.

1144—5),

Some

of the borings showed “traces of wood” according

to

Dr.

Zimmerman,

(P.

1245—6).

(See also

P.

1259 which

speaks of

‘tone

boring,”)

The salient question is “Do ties and/or planks

exist

on

the

site?”

Dr. Zimmerman saw “several”,

(P.

1260),

John

Dubach,

the first site owner, testified to burying the timbers,

(R.

1521~—2),

And. John Bernardoni,

a later owner,

states that there were “very

few”

railroad

ties

“scattered

around.~

(P.

1668),

Three

persons

each

under

oath,

have

thus

verified

that

ties

or

planks

were

on

the

site.

When dealing with human health the prudent person

must

pursue

a

safe route,

My judgment is that there

is a great

probability of ties and planks and possibly trees being

buried on

the

site.

The county conditions require only five feet of

recompacting

on

spoil piles lying above the aquifer,

That would give

only half

the protection the 10 ft. deep liner is supposed to

bring.

Because of the great probability that the buried

timbers will

cause

pollution of the aquifer,

I respectfully

dissent.

I

~acoo u,

oumelle,

P.E,

Chairman

56-98

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3

I, Christan

L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois

Pollution

Control Board, hereby ce~fy

that the

above Dissenting Opinion

was filed on the

~

day of

~

1984.

~

Illinois

Pollution Control Board

56-99