April
29, 2005
R
CLERK’S
MAY
E
C
022005
E
OFFICE
I
v
E D
STATE
OF ILLINOIS
Dorothy
Gumi,
IPCB Clerk
Pollution
Control
Board
100 W. Randolph Street.
STE
11-500
Chicago,IL 60601
~
(
Dear Ms. Gunn:
~
I am writing in opposition to Waste Management’s Appeal Hearing Case IPCB 04-186
which seeks to over turn a Kankakee County Board’s decision to not allo
acre
expansion oftheir current 80 acre garbage dump.
I attended the many hours ofthe local hearing on this expansion proposal. Testimony
presented during the hearing clearly showed that all the criteria forthis proposed
expansion were not met and therefore the IPCB should turn down Waste Management’s
appeal.
At the bearing, testimony showed hundreds oflarge garbage trucks would be dumping
daily at the proposed site and they would present a clear danger to school children that
travel Hwy~
45/52
in school buses. School bus traffic in this area is on the rise as this
area is primed for residential as well as commercial development as testified by Waste
Management’s own real estate expert.
At the hearing, it was brought out in testimony that there is adequate space in manyother
landfills in the Chicago area and therefore this expansion is not needed.
According to the Illinois Geological Survey, the location for this dump proposal is one of
the worstpossible locations in Kankakee County. It is to be placed in the immediate
watershed ofthe Iroquois and Kankakee River, a short distance upstream from where the
metro water supply is taken from the river. The location is directly above a major aquifer
that supplies water to the rivers and hundreds ofwells in the area. The aquifer is not deep
enough and the area contains sand veins that can transport pollution.
The community at large is opposed to this expansion. The Iroquois and Kankakee rivers
are two ofthe cleanest rivers in the state and the Kankakee Riverprovides water to
thousands ofarea citizens. It is ipiperative that the 1PCB turns down Waste
Management’s appeal.
Sincerely,
Darrel W Bruck, 1r