Residents tell IEPA to keep watching Buffalo Grove landfill
Buffalo Grove residents got a chance Tuesday night to tell the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency it should continue monitoring of the Land and Lakes Landfill because of lingering concerns over contaminants.
From a crowd of roughly 70 people including village officials, staff members and many nonresidents nine spoke out against the IEPA ending environmental monitoring of the landfill and granting what's called certification of completion of post-closure care.
But eight people spoke in favor of the landfill being cleared so future development could occur.
Lincolnshire resident Brenda Weis, a former biology teacher and environmental activist, said since the early 1970s there had been water shortages and contaminated water supplies in that village, that were resolved by IEPA action.
“At that time there were really very few safeguards in place regarding environmental protection for the public,” she said. “There is certainly enough rationale, given the history of illegal dumping along the Milwaukee Avenue corridor, to insist a much closer monitoring of the phenol on the Land and Lakes site.”
The landfill at 1300 Milwaukee Ave. in Buffalo Grove closed May 30, 1995, and is at the end of a 15-year monitoring phase that could be extended to 30 years.
James Cowhey Jr., president of Land and Lakes Co. and also mayor of Lake Forest, made the case for why the landfill should be granted a clean bill of health.
“This facility has been closed for 15 years,” he said. “Any questions raised tonight are merely on our application to be removed from post-closure care. This is a normal procedure for all facilities.”
Cowhey said the more than 60-acre landfill site can be developed into a half-million square feet of retail space.
“This is an extremely significant project which should not be delayed,” he said.
Cowhey, who has declined repeated requests for comment on the landfill, said Tuesday he did not want to respond publicly to allegations of contaminants at the site as the company may seek legal remedies to defend its record.
The family-owned company started in 1966 as excavators and expanded into waste disposal, running several landfills around the state. It is based in Park Ridge.
“Unfortunately, a number of false allegations regarding this facility have been made by a politically motivated individual,” Cowhey said, alluding to recalled Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone, who championed Tuesday's public hearing.
Stone made the landfill her primary issue during her time on the village board. Citing a 2005 Shaw Environmental Inc. study commissioned by the village but later abandoned, Stone raised concerns about possible groundwater and air contamination from the landfill.
In late July, state regulators cited detections of the chemical phenol on two separate occasions in a groundwater monitoring well that exceeded standards set for the landfill for their denial of a request to lift the 15-year oversight period.
Phenol is a chemical used in manufacturing substances such as nylon and resins.
When the landfill closed in 1995, the state instituted a 15-year monitoring period during which Land and Lakes was required to test groundwater wells regularly and submit the results to the IEPA.
“Given that the release of phenol and other contaminants has been a known, ongoing problem at this landfill, it is unacceptable that the groundwater is not more closely monitored,” Stone said Tuesday. “In addition to being an alarming indicator that the facility may not be properly designed or regulated for the waste types that it accepted, this information should lead to an extension of the post-closure time period from 15 years to 30 years.”
IEPA hearing officer Dean Studer said at the onset of the hearing that while the agency listens to all comments, it would give weight to only two criteria when making its decision: whether Land and Lakes has adequately completed its post-closure care plan, and whether the site will cause future violations of the state Environmental Protection Act and other state regulations.
Ghida Neukirch, Buffalo Grove's deputy village manager, spoke on behalf of the village and urged the IEPA to approve the landfill's application so the site could be redeveloped.
“The village's goal for this property is to attain a high-quality commercial development,” she said.
Several people noted that the landfill site has only five active monitoring wells four located along the eastern boundary and one on the northwest corner.
“We've got too few wells, in too few locations, not drilled deep enough, and not testing the right things,” said Sean Collins, an environmental lawyer from Naperville. “The bottom of this landfill is 40 feet. I believe only one of those wells is drilled deep enough. Giving this landfill a clean bill of environmental health now is a rush to judgment that is unwarranted.”
Representatives of the Buffalo Grove Area Chamber of Commerce and several labor unions voiced their support for approval of the landfill's application.
“We know a large-scale project like this will provide much-needed jobs for construction workers in Illinois,” said Patrick Hosty, executive director of the Chicago Area Laborers Employers Cooperation and Education Trust.
Gina Speckman of Chicago Plus, the regional tourism development office of the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, said Buffalo Grove is losing out on tax revenue to surrounding communities.
Several Buffalo Grove village trustees, including Village President Elliott Hartstein, quietly listened to the comments but didn't venture any of their own at the hearing.
“I rely on the EPA,” said Trustee Jeffrey Braiman after the hearing had concluded. “My position all along is it's not a village board or village function. If it needs more testing, they'll ask for more testing and if it complies with the law they'll give the approval to the developer.”
Tuesday's hearing was historic and the first of its kind on post-closure care completion, Studer said. While the hearing was not televised, a video recording of the proceedings can be viewed at dailyherald.com.
The IEPA will accept written comments on the Land and Lakes Landfill's application for 30 days after the hearing if postmarked by midnight Dec. 9. Comments may be e-mailed to epa.publichearingcom@illinois.gov, with the subject header “Land and Lakes Wheeling Landfill.”
The decision whether to grant the landfill's application is expected by Jan. 15, 2011, although it could be postponed.