IEPA delays Land and Lakes decision to consider more monitoring wells

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is extending its deadline for deciding whether monitoring should continue at the Land and Lakes Landfill in Buffalo Grove.

The agency announced this week it now will make a ruling by July 14. The previous deadline had been Saturday.

According to an IEPA official, the agency extended the deadline because Land and Lakes provided additional information regarding the site and offered to install more monitoring wells there.

Closed 15 years ago, the landfill along Milwaukee Road initially was slated for only 15 years of post-closure monitoring. Buffalo Grove annexed it in 2008 with an eye toward developing the property, which more recently has been used as a transfer station and composting site.

Former village trustee Lisa Stone, a frequent critic of the village’s handling of the site, said she sees the deadline extension as an admission by Land and Lakes that more monitoring is needed.

“Based upon what the IEPA was likely going to do, which was demand groundwater monitors and more collection of data, I think that Land and Lakes, rather than being told what to do, they are voluntarily saying they will do it,” she said. “This result is what I have been asking for since the beginning.”

Stone, who was recalled by voters in November, continued to criticize the village board, with which she was constantly at odds during her tenure.

“When I raised this issue, instead of investigating whether the landfill was safe and following through on (an environmental consultant’s) recommendation, they began the recall effort and tried to silence me by advocating for my removal from office,” she said.

Village Trustee Jeffrey Braiman, who’s running unopposed for village president in April, welcomed the delay.

“It doesn’t surprise me that they are extending the period,” he said. “It is always safer to be more conservative. It doesn’t say that there is anything wrong with the property. They are just being safe and conservative, and that’s a very reasonable, appropriate action to take.”

Village President Elliott Harstein echoed those remarks.

“I have always felt that whatever they do, they are going to want to make sure that everything is done properly before things are finalized,” he said. “It’s from my understanding that that is exactly the same position of Land and Lakes. They want to make sure that there is no doubt that there is not any problems here and they want to work with the IEPA to try and substantiate that.”

As for Stone’s remarks, Braiman said it is the IEPA’s responsibility to oversee environmental conditions at the landfill, not the village.

“This is their job. This is their responsibility, their expertise” he said. “We have no right to force inspections. That is what the EPA is required to do and that is what they did.”

Among the factors the IEPA will consider in deciding whether to require more monitoring at the site are remarks made by village residents at a November hearing the agency held in the village hall.