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PRINTING

J!O1

—

Copy

to:

111.

Pollution

Control

Bd.,

do

Jon

Therriaul.t1

—

4

F

Rep

Ray

Lal-looci,

(copies

Sens

Risinger,

Koehier,

Reps

Goidon,

Le3th,

Schockj2)

Dear

Ray,

.....

)

-

DEC

°‘-‘

2008

As

I

have

informed

you

before,

Illinois

is

one

of

only

13

states

that

las

a

(toxic)

waste

landfill”

still

in

public

use,

Peoria

Disposal

Co’s.

Peoria

isIcthørd

only

urban

area.

with

such

a

landfill

a)

sitting

even

near

let

alone

directly

(50

feet)

above

the

aquifer

from

which

mOst

of

its

water

is

drawn,

and

b)

nation’s

only

city

with

such

a.

landfill

immediately

adjoining

it

and

directly

upwind

of

the

air

its

people

must

breathe.

And

a

5-country

study

in

Europe

found

that

babies

born

of

mothers

living

near

toxic

waste

landfills

had

41%

more

birth

defects

[The

Lancet

,l!26102j,

and

a

New

Jersey

study

revealed

twice

as

many

premature

births

and

a

five-fold

increase

in

low

birth

weights

near

its

former

Lipari

toxic

waste

dump

before

its

$125

million

cleanup.

Love

Canal,

with

less

than

a

100th

of.PDC’s

volume

of

toxcs,

cost

$247

million

to

rectify

in

1980s.

Now

a

peer

review*

of

Jj,

New

York

State

(outside

NYC)

hospital

records

revealed

“strikingly

elevated”

and

diverse

health

problems

near

hazardous

waste

sites.

Based

on

“hospitalization

disCharge.

rates”,

for

patients

from

areas

near

a

landfill

containing.

“hazardous”

wastes

compared

to

patients

from

“clean”

areas,.

the

differences

were:

Diabetes

hospitalization

rate

--

25%

greater,

hut

36%

greater

among

people

living

along

the

Hudson

River

(attributed

to

[probably

fumes

of]

toxic

wastes

going

into

the

river

from

upstream

sources).

[Note:

Could

this

apply

as

well

to

the

Illinois

River?]

Coronary

heart

disease

hospitalization

rate

--

15%

more,

and

.20%

more

for

“acute

myocardial

infarction”

(dying

heart

muscle);

plus

higher

overall

blood

pressure.

But,

like

diabetes, along

the

Hudson

River

the

rate

was

35.8%

more,

and

39.1%

more

for

AMI.

These

differences

are

despite

people

along

the

Hudson

having

“higher

average

income”

and

“there

is

less

smoking,

better

diet,

and

more

exercise.”

Stri

hospitalization

rate

.--

15%

more

among

people

living

near

toxic

waste

sites.

Hypertension

rate

--

19.2%

higher

in

people

living

near

toxic

waste

landfills

containing

PCBs,

dioxins,

and

chlorinated

pesticides

as

well

as

“othe?’

toxic

wastes,

and

10%

greater

in

sites

containing

“other”

toxics,

but

not

the

particular

aboye

culprits.

(PCBs

are

an

issue

at

Peoria

Disposal

Co.’s

landfill,

but

dioxins

and

pesticides

are

on

EPA’s

permitted

list.)

Asthma

and

infectious

respiratory,

disease

hospitalization

rate

--

15%

higher

for

infectious

respiratory

disease

in

people living

in

the

vicinity

o.f

toxic

waste

sites,

19%

higher

for

chronic

obstructive

pulmonary

disease,

and

9%

higher

for

asthma.

One

of

the

“major

routes

of

exposure”

is

“inhalation

of

contaminated

air

near

hazardous

waste

sites,”

the

study

states.

[53,000

live

within

3

miles

of

Peoria’s

toxic

waste

landfill.]

As

to

the

above

findings,

there

are

still

more

to

come,

the

researchers

say.

NOTE;

If

the

state

or

federal

government

wants

a

hazardous

waste

landfill

in

Illinois,

it

needs

to

find

the

safest

location

pcssib1e

-

and

the

government

itself

must

run

the

landfill,

or

directly

contract

out

its

operation,

with

constant

government

oversight.

There

ar

far

less

dangerous

locations

than PDC’s

right

in

Peoria.

Even

in

just

the

four-county

area

surrounding

Peoria

there

are

over

100,000

acres

of

former

stripmined

land,

of

which

15,000

in

Fulton

County

are

still

owned

by

the

Cook

County

Reclamation

District,

farmland

already

permitted

for

sewage

sludge

rec.ycling,

but

now

only

fanned.

And

there

certainly

are

better

ways

of

dealing

with

toxic

waste

than

simply

burying

it

under

a

layer

of

dirt

where

it,

literally

forever,

remains

a

toxic

hazard.

.

>

*

I

have

copies.

Overseeing

author

is:

D.C.

Carpenter,

Institute

for

Iea1th

ç

Enviromnent,

Univ.

of

Albany,

5

University

P1.,

A217,

Rensselaer,

N.Y.

12144

-

3429.

Phone

(518)

525-2660

Cj-4

Tom

Edwards/River

Rescue

902

W.

Moss

Ave.,

Peoria,

IL

61606