08/28/2008
    18:30 FAX
    3096899945
    BROWN
    PRINTING
    002
    -
    Illinois
    Pollution
    Control
    Board
    From
    Tom
    Edwards
    ‘G
    2g
    2008
    Case
    N’o
    AS
    08-10
    902
    W
    Moss
    OF
    (2nd
    statement
    from
    wri
    tei.)
    Peoria,
    IL
    61606
    “-‘t1on
    c
    01
    (fJNOis
    August
    28,
    2008
    B0td
    Pecria
    Disposal
    Co ‘s
    New
    Plov to
    Stvnue
    Closure
    Svnop’is
    -- PDC
    wants
    up to
    g5,000
    cubic
    yards
    per year
    of
    electric arc
    steel mill
    furnace
    wastes
    loaded
    with
    toxics
    from
    throughout
    the
    Midwest
    to
    be delivered
    initially
    to
    Its
    hazardous
    waste
    landtill
    in
    Peoria
    And then,
    via a qualified
    okay by
    illinois
    EPA, PDC
    would
    attempt
    to
    detoxify
    these
    wastes
    by
    a
    “private,
    secret”
    method,
    then
    reload
    them
    onto
    trucks
    and
    deliver
    them
    to
    a regular
    municipal
    trash
    landfill
    p_ose
    expensive
    as
    it
    is
    is to
    prevent
    having
    to
    finish
    filling
    and closing
    its
    Peoria
    landfill,
    and
    meet
    stiff
    1osure
    regulations
    Local
    envuonmentalists
    are
    appealing
    EPA’s
    closed
    door
    decision
    lis
    “secret”
    Star
    Chamber
    procedure
    was
    outlandish,
    and
    iii
    violati
    of all
    open
    meeting
    protocols
    The
    EPA
    decision
    does
    not
    mean
    that
    these
    furnace
    residues
    will
    be
    made
    clean,
    only
    that
    their
    welter
    of
    toxic
    materials
    would
    be
    somehow
    ‘reduced”
    in
    toxic
    impact,
    at
    least
    for
    a time, to
    what might
    be
    “safe?’
    at
    the
    moment
    This
    would apply
    only
    to
    14
    so-
    called
    “non-volatile
    heavy
    metals”
    reported
    present,
    including
    highly
    toxic
    mercury,
    lead,
    and
    cadmium
    But
    it
    would
    it
    apply
    to the
    array of
    “volatde”
    toxic
    chemicals
    in
    these
    wastes,
    which
    dissipate
    into our
    air,
    such
    as poisonous
    dioxin
    and
    turans
    Discussion
    What
    is
    the sanity
    let
    alone
    clti7en
    health and
    safety
    benefit
    in
    PDC’s
    latest
    attempt
    to
    stymie
    closuie
    of
    its
    Peoria
    toxic
    waste
    landfill
    by
    expensively
    shunting
    its toxic
    laden
    steel mill
    waste
    elsewhere
    after going
    through
    an
    uncertain,
    and
    also
    expensive
    process,
    to at
    least
    temporarily
    immobilize
    most of
    the
    toxics
    arriving
    in
    the steel
    mill
    waste
    The
    toxics,
    still
    there,
    likely
    dissipate
    elsewhere
    later
    PDC
    says
    at least
    10 steel
    mills
    would be
    trucking
    their
    waste some
    hundreds
    of
    miles
    to
    ‘unload
    it
    at
    PtC’
    s
    landtill
    in
    Peoria
    so that
    its
    toxicity
    Cdli,
    hopefully,
    be
    “reduced”
    and
    so it
    can then
    be
    re-trucked
    to
    one or
    more
    regular
    city-county
    landfills
    The
    mills
    could
    he
    doing
    that
    tight at
    their
    own facilities
    PDC
    wants
    to
    keep
    its reinairung
    space
    open in
    its
    dangerously
    located
    Peoria
    landfill
    so
    that nether
    Peoria
    County nor
    the Illinois
    EPA
    can
    legally
    close
    it
    That
    was
    the
    message
    delivered
    by
    PDC’s
    attorney
    at
    IPCB ‘s
    public
    hearing
    August
    18
    The
    IEPA
    has
    so far given
    a
    qualified
    okay to
    tins
    maneuver
    But
    environmentalists
    are
    appealing
    this
    decision
    to
    the Illinois
    Pollution
    Control
    Board
    The
    JEPA
    states
    (Part
    II, Sect
    104
    406,
    JEPA
    Filing.
    6/12/08]
    that
    POC’s
    “electric
    arc
    furnace
    dust
    will
    ike1v
    meet
    the
    required”
    lower
    level
    of milligrams
    per
    liter
    of
    waste
    after
    its
    secret
    treatment
    But
    that
    is far
    from
    removal,
    And
    “likely”
    also
    means
    maybe
    Moreover,
    PEC
    in its
    April
    25, 2002,
    petition
    to
    the
    IPC]3, claims
    (bottom,
    page
    2)
    that
    9
    7LAS2t)
    M4-
    /L’
    /2pr

    08/28/2008
    18:30
    FAX
    3096899945
    BROWN
    PRINTING
    it
    has
    secret
    “new
    proprietary
    stabilization
    technology”
    for
    “K061
    electric
    arc
    furnace
    dust”
    that
    will
    (top,
    page
    3) render
    it
    “stabilized” enough “to
    meet
    applicable
    land
    disposal
    restrictions”
    PDC
    does
    not
    claim
    any
    removal
    of
    the
    toxic
    metals
    in
    the
    dust
    by
    the
    piocess,
    or how
    long
    they
    would
    be
    held
    in
    check
    Most
    steel
    mills
    have
    nieans
    to
    deal
    on
    site
    with
    the
    toxicity
    of
    their
    wastes
    Perhaps
    it
    could
    be
    less
    expensive to ship
    it elsewhere
    to
    detoxify
    it
    But
    probably
    the
    mam
    reasop
    for
    shipping
    it
    away
    is that
    the
    mills
    want
    to shed
    themselves
    of
    the
    liability
    and
    responsibility
    of
    dealrn&
    with
    the
    toxics
    in
    their
    wastes
    and
    so divest
    themselves
    of
    that
    liability_by
    trucking
    their
    waste
    to
    Peoria
    and
    ping PDC
    to
    landfill it
    For
    PDC,
    which
    now
    has
    30
    other
    operations dealing
    with
    waste,
    to dose
    its first
    one
    --
    after
    78
    years
    of
    dumping
    on
    its
    site,
    but
    under
    state
    regulations
    only
    for
    the
    last
    21
    years
    -- could
    entail
    a
    hugely
    expensive
    longterm
    remedjation
    effort,
    a
    frightening
    postclosure
    prospect
    And
    PDC
    has
    apparently spent
    into
    the millions
    in
    recent
    years
    to
    tI.y
    to
    circumvent
    this
    closure
    Peihaps
    the
    company is afraid
    of
    what
    will
    be
    discovered
    or
    transpire
    after
    it is
    closed
    [Note
    This
    writer
    has
    long
    urged
    a
    means
    whereby
    the
    state
    and
    federal
    EPAs
    could
    share
    with
    PDC
    in
    this
    daunting
    prospect
    I
    Rather,
    PDC
    could
    be
    plowing
    its
    profits
    into
    healthier
    channels,
    both
    for
    itself
    and
    certainly
    for
    society
    At
    present
    PDC
    leaves
    various
    types
    of
    its
    toxic
    waste
    sitting
    “out
    to
    cure”
    before
    putting
    them
    in its
    “landfill”
    to
    eventually
    be
    covered
    with
    soil
    Volatile
    chemicals
    certainly
    are
    venting
    off
    into
    the
    air
    while
    sitting,
    perhaps
    for
    long
    periods, outside
    the
    landfill,
    or
    in
    For
    PDC,
    this
    gets
    rid
    of
    such
    chemicals
    --
    but into
    the
    air
    that
    local
    people
    must
    breathe
    This
    may
    be the
    ultimate
    fate
    of
    mush
    of
    the
    up
    to
    95,000
    cubic
    yards
    per
    year
    of
    steel
    mill
    wastes
    PDC
    says
    it
    intends
    to detoxify
    and
    then
    re-transport
    to
    local
    municipal
    dumps
    Stacked
    vertically, 95,000
    cubic
    yards
    would
    be54
    miles
    high
    There
    are
    certainly
    vastly
    superior
    alternatives,
    and
    for
    the
    sake
    of our
    planet,
    we
    had
    better
    start
    finding
    and
    using
    them
    Only
    nuclear
    waste
    is
    more
    hazardous
    than
    toxic
    waste
    landfills
    And
    we
    need
    to
    keep
    high
    in
    our
    minds
    that
    PDCs moimtain
    of
    poisonous
    toxic
    waste
    sits
    as
    close
    as
    50
    feet
    above
    the
    Peoria
    area’s
    main
    water
    supply
    aquifer,
    and
    immediately
    upwind
    of
    the
    air
    Peorians
    must
    breathe
    It
    is
    the
    only
    still
    operating such
    facthty
    an
    the
    nation
    in
    such
    a
    perilous
    location
    to
    people
    We are
    also
    alei
    ted
    that
    the
    PDC
    camp
    will
    try
    getting
    EPA
    approval
    to
    achieve-
    compliance by simply
    adding
    soil
    to “dilute”
    the
    toxicity
    of the
    waste
    so
    it
    can
    be
    taken
    to
    regular
    landfills
    It
    has
    tried
    this before
    If
    Illinois
    is to
    have
    a
    toxic
    waste
    landfill
    for
    it
    and
    other
    states
    to
    use,
    then
    the
    state
    must
    be
    the
    site
    owner,
    put
    it
    in
    the
    satest
    location
    possible,
    and
    all
    foices
    combine
    to
    make
    it
    the
    best
    such
    facility
    of
    this
    kind
    The
    PDC
    mattei
    is an
    elephant
    in
    our
    living
    room
    that
    political office
    holders
    and
    seekers
    are
    afraid
    to
    even
    acknowledge
    The
    IEPA
    decision needs
    to be
    summarily
    dismissed
    J003

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