Insanity to bury hazardous waste over water supply

Ihave been following the issue

of

proposed

fill

inblinols and the greater part of the Mid-

hazardous

expansionwaste

of

the

landfill

Peoria Disposal

on the west

Company'sedge

of 'of

west,theand

most

ore

toxic

of only

chemicals

a few

ain prmiittedthe

nation

to

Manybe

Peoria

. and attended PDC's presentation to

buried her4.and 15 states send

thePeoria

City

Council last November

The majorityof these chenitralcare vola-

This landfill is the worst thing

I have seen

tile, meaning they literally dissipate into the

in my 90

years in this community

I say that

air we

breathe Yet there is no air pollution

without reservation .

'

testing and this factor is being ignored by

It is amazing that in this era

of space

our government

technology, we are building a mountain here

If mankind keeps handling

its waste

of a couple million tons

ofa huge assortment

this way,, we

are going to go the way of the

of terribly toxic chemicals in the belief that

dinosaurs. Of the billions we spend on

space

and

PDC's

precious

can

of

a

leaking

plastic

Moreoverthe

eat

cracks

toxic

Peoria

Into

into

groundwater

liner

:

with

waste

the

and

it

area's

will

is

age

aquifer,through

landfill

the

and

forever

tap

supply

only

stress,

from

itwater

sits

hazardous

prevent

Plastic

which

right

is

and

pumpedwaste

them

over

over

chemicalsbreaks

.

thatfromland-half

.

.

programs,

even

our

insanityto

detoxify

space

far more

we

ship

and

must

on

recycle

Earthcaring

spend

We

all

for

as

have

such

much,

and

to

wastepreservingfund

indeed,

.

waysIt

is

JANUMd

,

SUNDAY

rs.2006

A4,

.

JOURNALSTM

RECEIVED

CLERK'S

OFFICE

FORESTIMK

PEORIAHObBIS

FOUNam°N

I

Pollution

STATE

OF

Control

ILLINOISBoard

To

Fou

r

Whom

months

This

after

Concernsrenown

conservationist

:

Bill

Rutherford, who died Nov

. 21, sent the above letter, the

~~w

Peoria County Board voted 12 to 6

not to grant a permit to Peoria Disposal Co

. to expand its toxic waste

landfill here. That vote followed the largest

and longest (6 days) public hearing in area history

.

PDC is appealing the county

s

permit denial to the Illinois Pollution ControlBoard

. The

IPCB hearing on the case was January

8, and it will accept citizen comment letters

though April 6! Let the IPCB

knowyour views,

The letters will be . posted on the

IPCB's web site .

Yours will count.

The address is :

f

Illinois Pollution Control Board, Clerk's Office,

Case 2006-184

100 W

. Randolph St., Suite 11-500, Chicago, IL 60601

(Letters only

. E-mails not accepted)

Also,

write or fax the Journal Star

.

The Situation

:

PDC's proposed expansion would

triple

the volume of its toxic waste landfill, adding 2.2

million tons to

40 acres on the top

of its hilltop landfill -- already

much higher than originally due to years of dumping

. It

would make that hill another 45 feet higher at least

(5 stories), a superdome

of toxic waste considerably

higher than any other hill in the area, and covering

an area greater than Bradley U's campus . Its contents,

from 15 states so far, would be encased in manmade

sidewalls of dirt lined with plastic membrane and

acked down by bulldozers . Hardly a leakproof scenario

.

PDC's is the only remaining commercial hazardous waste landfill from Indianapolis to the Rocky Mts

. in the

nation's upper half

. Such waste from a dozen states is regularly brought here

. PDC has been operating

since 1940, but state toxic waste regulations

didn't begin until 1987 . And:

**The dump site sits above the shallow sand-gravel aquifer from which most of the

Peoria area water

supply

is drawn

. Yet PDC's Illinois EPA permit

allows 843

of the nation's most toxic chemicals to be put there

--

but requires just quarterly tests for only 20

--

with PDC designating the day for EPA to take test

samples..

**This landfill has vents for

gaseous emissions

and is immediately upwind of Peoria .

But there is no testing

for air pollution, though research has revealed

it to be a major health issue around such landfills

elsewhere.

The federal "toxic release inventory" for Peoria

County is by far the highest in Illinois, 4 times

more than

Cook County's (Chicago), and 16th in the nation,

according to the 2002 USEPA report . It lists the PDC

toxic waste landfill

as releasing 21 times more than any other area source

.

Thia landfill is a "forever" hazard .

We needto

close it now with strictly enforced

perpetual safeguards,

BU MRERPoRDSR

FEB 0 7 1007

Tom Edwards,

River Rescue, 902 W . Moss

Ave, Peoria,ll 61606

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