RECEIVED
CLERK’S OFFICE
AUG
0
S
2005
STATE
OF
ILLINOIS
CITIZENS
Web Site
http://careIockport.honies~QIIUtIOfl
control Board
e-Mail
careIocknort(d~usa.com
I
AGAINST
RUINING
the
ENVIRONMENT
P.0.
Box 536
Lockport,
IL 60441
August 3,
2005
R
The Honorable J. Phillip Novak
Chairman, Illinois Pollution Control Board
100W. Randolph, Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Re: Revisions
to Radium Water Quality
Standards: Proposed New 35
Ill.Adm. Code
302.307 and amendments to
35
Ill.Adm.Code 302.207
and 302.525
R04-02 1
Rulemaking —Water
Dear Chairman Novak:
Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE) has closely followed the radium
water quality standards
issue and has appreciated the opportunity to
weigh in. As the
public comment period draws
to a close and the Pollution Control Board considers the
consequences ofrolling
back Illinois’
sound radium water quality standards, we ask you
to be aware ofmounting evidence of environmental contamination’s dire effect on
the
public’s health and safety.
Last month the US Environmental
Protection Agency (US EPA) issued
a document titled,
“A
Regulators Guide to
the Management ofRadioactive Residualsfrom Drinking
Water
Technologies,
“which clearly makes the connection between exposure to radium and
serious health effects.
The document also highlights
the potential for radium
accumulation over time
and the affect on
future land use.
This is
particularly troubling in
areas like
Will County that are experiencing suburban sprawl and farm fields that have
been contaminated with radium sludge which has and will continue to be
converted into
subdivisions
and parks.
Given the severe health fisk surrounding radium and other environmental contaminants,
CARE applauds Governor Blagojevich and Lt.
Gov. Pat Quinn
for their efforts in passing
the Community Right to Know Bill. This bill, aimed at ensuring that people living near
contamination are promptly notified,
gives the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(IEPA) the authority to advise communities
about the presence of contamination and the
power to order clean-up ofhazardous
sites.
However, it defies logic for the administration to support
an increase in
radiation
contamination while it simultaneously signs a law to protect residents
from
the very
contamination it is helping
to create.
For the past two years, communities across Illinois have been looking for guidance on the
most environmentally-responsible, cost-effective method
ofremoving radium from the
drinking water and safely disposing of the contaminated waste.
The Illinois EPA’s
(IEPA) answer is to allow virtually unlimited amounts ofradium, a known carcinogen, in
our waterways and
on our land without knowing the short-term and long-term
consequences on our enviromnent, wildlife and most importantly,
the public’s health
and
safety.
Now is the time to uphold Illinois’
sound environmental
standards to protect the public
health and safety, instead of paving the way for polluters
and increasing radioactive
contamination. Now that the IEPA has the responsibility to notify the public about
contamination under the Community Right to Know law, it is our hope the agency will
realize the potential implications oftheir proposal to allow unlimited amounts ofradium
to be spread on our land and in our waterways.
As
environmentalists have cautioned since the beginning, and in the wake ofthe US
EPA’s
guidelines document, the radium disposal situation demands we take a
progressive, safe and well-thought out approach.
We hope
the Illinois Pollution Control
Board will take advantage of this unique opportunity
to prevent the unnecessary
discharge ofradium contamination in an effort to keep Illinois at the forefront of sound
environmental policy.
Thank you,
Directors
Carol
Stark
Ellen Rendulich
Sandy Burcenski
Wendy Vlasak
815-838-1483
815-834-1611
815-838-1442
815-838-0622
cc: Board Member G. Tanner Girard
Board Member Thomas Johnson
Board Member Nicholas Melas
Board Member Andrea Moore
