September 23, 2004
Tom Edwards
2702 North Peoria Ave. (He doesn’t live there anymore.??
Peoria, Illinois 61603
Re: Peoria Disposal Company’s Hazardous Waste Landfill
1438120003-Peoria County
Peoria Disposal Company
IL000905812
RCRA-Permit
Dear Mr. Edwards:
I have been asked to respond to your letter of August 17, 2004, which was addressed to Governor Blagojevich. In this letter, you express several concerns regarding the permitted hazardous waste landfill owned by Peoria Disposal Company ion Pottstown, Illinois. A previous letter from Director Cipriano to you dated April 20, 20004 addressed many of your concerns. For your convenience, a copy of this letter is attached.
I will address new concerns raised by the subject letter below:
Illinois is the major dumping grounds for much of the most toxic waste hazardous waste known to man, and is permitted by EPA to accept over 1000
such compounds. (Statement by Tom Edwards)
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
As Director Cipriano indicated, before a hazardous waste can be legally disposed, it must be treated to comply with the Land Disposal Restrictions
(LDR’s). The LDR’s are a federally mandated requirement. The specific LDR requirements vary from one waste type to another, but the underlying
goal is to ensure that the treated wastes are safe for disposal in a landfill that is designed in accordance with the federal design standards. There fore it is simply not true that the wastes disposed in the PDC hazardous waste landfill are the most toxic hazardous waste know to mankind.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
It (Illinois) has two of the nation’s remaining 15 commercial hazardous waste landfills, at Calumet and Peoria. They serve the Midwest and beyond. Both are on tributaries of the Illinois River, and will (if not already) leach into it.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
The State of Illinois has little control over who applies for a hazardous waste permit. As long as the Applicanct has proper siting from local authorities, and provides a complete application that complies with the hazardous waste regulations, and protects human health and the environment, Illinois EPA is obligate to issue a permit.
There are many safeguards in the hazardous waste management program to prevent migration of leachate from a hazardous waste site. These include the LDR’s the liner systems, the leachate collection system, the leak detection system, and the groundwater monitoring system. These safeguard form multiple layer of defense against such migration. If any of these layers of defense fails, the next layer easily detects it, and the Permitee is then required to correct the problem. There is no evidence of any off-site environmental problems arising from the PDC facility. No contamination has been detected by the ground water monitoring wells at the facility. If there was, PDC would be required to correct the problem.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
Also, the world is just beginning to realize that the toxic gases volatilizing from such landfills are causing birth defects.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
As Director Cipriano indicated, the Bureau of Air permits emissions from the gas management systems. The gas emissions from the PDC Facility are so low that routine testing is not required. If the emissions were to increase, then more restrictive requirements would be applied. There is no evidence of any health risk from the gas emissions at the PDC facility.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
Only a plastic membrane barrier is expected to keep their soupy contents contained for hundreds of years and longer. But plastic cracks, breaks under weight and age, and caustic materials eat into it. But unlike water, sewer and gas lines, and swimming pools, ect. the deep underground breaks of landfills cannot be fixed. We are looking at what may be future billion dollar superfund sites.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
The safeguards of hazardous waste management system that we already discussed are specifically designed to prevent this from happening. The components of the containment system are carefully tested to insure that they will be able to stand up over a long-term both the physical and chemical stresses imposed by the waste. I there were a failure of the containment system, the Permitee would be required to correct the problem.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
Now, the owner of Peoria toxic waste landfill wants to triple its size and expand its receiving territory. But in a decade or two the owners of these landfills will be long gone, and the taxpayers will be left holding the bag.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
As Director Cipriano indicated, before PDC could apply for an expansion of the hazardous waste landfill, it would have to provide Illinois EPA with proof that the local government had approved the siting for the expansion. To date, no such application or proof of siting has been submitted to Illinois EPA. Any siting decision is strictly in the hands of the local government. The Sate of Illinois has no involvment in this process. Neither the permit nor the regulation restricts the receiving territory of a permitted hazardous waste landfill. As Director Cipriano indicated, such a restriction would be a violation of the Interstate Commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
Until the last few months (when we provided the city with this information), Peoria was completely naïve about the risks, volume, or even that 1100 hazardous materials from lethal metals as mercury and cadmium to extremely toxic chemicals, are permitted by the IEPA to be buried in a hole in the ground.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
All documents associated with a hazardous waste permit application are a matter of public record. This record is maintained by the Illinois EPA, but is readily available to any member of the public through the Freedom O Information Act. Further, for initial applications and modifications to existing permits, public notices of the pleading permit actions are placed in local newspapers and sent to all local, state, and federal elected officials in the area of the site. These notices inform the public of the proposed change, identify where more information can be obtained, and invite the public to comment on the pending action. Additionally, depending on the significance of the change, a public repository may be established at a local public building. When used, the repository contains all information Illinois EPA uses to make a permit decision. These measures are intended to keep the local public and its elected officials informed of permit actions. As to local siting decisions, similar public notification procedures apply, but are handled at the local level, rather than at the state level.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
Also, state surveillance is wanting.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
Permitted hazardous waste landfills have several layers of compliance tracking. This includes regular in-person inspections by the IPEA’s Field Operations Section, and regular reporting by the Permittee of all activities required by the permit. Some of these activities include: information from routine inspections of the facility conducted by site personnel, maintenance activities, problems that arise the trigger implementation of the site contingency plan, leachate monitoring results, leak detection system monitoring results, groundwater monitoring results, and the types of waste received. All of this information is certified by independent sources and in many cases is verified by IPEA Field Inspectors.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
We have left the enclosed petition in the doors of homes in the vicinity of the landfill and many have been mailed in. So far, we have gathered about 2300 signatures.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
The referenced petition asks for a rejection of the proposed expansion. As previously indicated, the decision for siting a landfill expansion is made by the local authorities. I the siting is granted by local authorities, and a complete application is submitted that complies with all regulations and protects human health and the environment, the IEPA is obligated to approve the application.
(Statement by Mr. Edwards)
The long term risks from such landfills is so great that the state need to close down the private operations and take over complete responsibility for such disposal! And the nation needs to find better ways to deal with such materials.
(Answer to Mr. Edwards)
Neither the State of Illinois, nor the United States Government has the authority to commandeer private property in this manner.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to express your concerns about this matter. If you have any further questions or concerns about this facility, please contact Mark L. Crites of my staff.
Sincerely,
Joyce L. Munie, P.E>
Manager, Permit Section
Bureau of Land
Enclosure: Director Cipriano’s letter of April 20, 2000. (Addressed also to Mr. Edwards)
bcc: Bureau File
Peoria Region
Steve Nightingale
Rhonda Davenport
Renee Cipriano
Mark L. Crites
Refer to my blog about Mr. Edwards telling the Peoria Times Observer that the IEPA lied to him in this letter. Mr. Edwards appeared to be trying his best to get the State of Illinois to declare this a TOXIC waste landfill and have the government take it over.. Mr. Edwards and some of his ilk are probably living in the wrong country. Maybe not, the way some are trying their best to take over this country.
It is getting late but I will be back tomorrow to help SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT.
No comments:
Post a Comment