Oversight still needed at Buffalo Grove landfill
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency denied a request to lift a 15-year oversight period at a former landfill in Buffalo Grove Wednesday.
The IEPA issued a draft denial to Land and Lakes Co.'s application to end monitoring requirements at the site on Milwaukee Avenue, based on groundwater deficiencies, said agency spokeswoman Maggie Carson. The oversight period was set to expire this month.
Regulators cited detections of the chemical phenol on two separate occasions in a groundwater monitoring well that exceeded standards set for the landfill.
The former landfill has caused controversy over complaints about odors from an existing composting facility and from issues involving groundwater contaminants dating back to the 1990s.
Land and Lakes Vice President Mary Cowhey said it's not unusual for the IEPA to seek additional information but the company was taking their questions seriously.
The company's experts will review the issue and respond to the IEPA's questions in a timely manner, she said.
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.
IEPA Solid Waste Unit Manager Chris Liebman said future scenarios included Land and Lakes resolving the outstanding issues quickly or the agency requiring corrective action for the contaminants.
IEPA documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that in the 1990s, the agency reported chemicals such as solvents and the carcinogen vinyl chloride in monitoring wells. The findings ranged from trace amounts to more significant amounts.
However, recent tests indicated no pollution problems, the U.S. EPA has reported.
Cowhey said the company had responded quickly to any correction actions required by the state.
Buffalo Grove considered buying the property in 2005 to be developed as a commercial and recreational site. The village dropped the purchase idea but did commission a study by Shaw Environmental Inc. to study the landfill. Shaw's preliminary report raised some environmental concerns and has been the subject of a feud on the village board between Trustee Lisa Stone and other officials.
Stone contends the previous board should have followed up on Shaw's findings but Village President Elliott Hartstein and others have countered that federal and county authorities give the landfill a clean bill of health.
"It is certainly the job of the IEPA to ask any needed questions and get satisfactory answers before finalizing any closure permit," Hartstein wrote in an e-mail. "I would expect them to be thorough in their role of reviewing any environmental concerns or questions and would expect no less and applaud their diligence."
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<h1>More Coverage</h1>
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<h2>Related documents</h2>
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<li><a href="/pdf/shawreport.pdf">A compilation of responses to Lisa Stone's FOIA on landfill, including the full Shaw Report. </a></li>
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<h2>Stories</h2>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=396733">Stone defends Stone over 'shut up' comment <span class="date">[07/27/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=396589">Editorial: Extend oversight period for landfill <span class="date">[07/26/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=396317">Did Buffalo Grove board drop the ball over landfill pollution questions? <span class="date">[07/26/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=396318">Who runs Land and Lakes? <span class="date">[07/26/10]</span></a></li>
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