Closure in DuPage Co. landfill contamination suits
Two class-action pollution lawsuits that pointed fingers at the Mallard Lake landfill in northwest DuPage County as the source of explosive gas leaks and contaminated drinking water settled for $8 million Thursday in federal court.
The cases involved 365 households in Wayne Township and Hanover Park, pitting homeowners against the DuPage County Forest Preserve District, which owns the Mallard Lake Forest Preserve, and BFI Waste Systems, which operates the former dump.
One $5.5 million deal will compensate residents living in an unincorporated area of Wayne Township whose drinking wells were contaminated by vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical. Authorities have not pinpointed the source of the pollution and the homeowners are now using piped-in Lake Michigan water.
A second $2.5 million agreement involves methane gas seeping underground from the landfill into a Hanover Park neighborhood west of Mallard Lake.
"I'm thrilled," said Bill Smith, a Hanover Park resident whose property tested positive for underground methane gas.
The DuPage County Forest Preserve District and BFI denied any wrongdoing or liability in the case. Mallard Lake is located near Hanover Park by Schick and County Farm roads.
"I think the agreement we all reached today put an end to this portion of the issue," Forest Preserve President Dewey Pierotti said.
In a statement, BFI said it agreed to the settlements "to avoid protracted and costly litigation."
Both sides agreed that an intensive methane extraction program supervised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was showing positive results in removing gas from the area. BFI is paying about $3.5 million for the effort in addition to the $8 million settlement.
"BFI and the forest preserve district promised the EPA and the class that the cleanup will go forward under meaningful standards and we will hold them to that. All of the evidence to date is that this is happening and that is the best news," said Naperville attorney Shawn Collins, who represented the residents.
The 2006 vinyl chloride lawsuit involving 92 households alleged the toxin leaked from the closed landfill, seeped into the aquifer and polluted wells to the southwest. Both BFI and the district deny the chemical originated from Mallard Lake, saying groundwater does not flow in the direction of the affected homes.
In the 2007 methane case, 273 Hanover Park families living west of the landfill sued the district and BFI after gas was detected underground. Methane is explosive at certain levels.
The landfill closed in 1999 and has a history of problems related to inadequate safeguards and illegal dumping under a previous operator.
"Toxic chemicals were dumped there without the necessary environmental protection," Collins said. "And no one can guarantee we've seen the last of the environmental problems."
In a statement BFI said "serving as a responsible citizen and steward of the environment continues to be a top priority."
The waste hauler said as part of its cleanup effort, it had: improved the landfill's on-site gas collection system to reclaim migrating methane; installed seven new off-site gas collection wells; hired outside consultants to test for methane migration whose results indicated the gas was well below ground and posed no hazard; improved the landfill cover; and tested the air in 250 homes with no methane detected. The company has also paid for gas detectors.
For his part, Pierotti noted, "the settlement doesn't stop us from continuing our due diligence to make sure there aren't any bad occurrences in the future. We just haven't abandoned our concern about what could happen."
Residents in the class action should receive their compensation for the lawsuit by mid-July, Collins said.
Two Hanover Park residents showed up at the Thursday hearing in the methane case contending their share of the settlement, about $6,000 each, was insufficient.
"I don't feel it's fair," homeowner Ron Wojcik told Judge Robert Dow. Wojcik said he was concerned about dropping house prices and described his neighborhood as "scarred" by the situation.
"People are on edge, it's not a comfortable feeling," Wojcik said. "The amount doesn't take in the permanency of the damage."
Dow said it would be difficult to say if any drops in home values were due to the methane issue or the troubled economy.
"There's no way of knowing the value of homes next week or next year," Dow said, noting that evidence indicated residences were selling in the neighborhood.
The judge noted that "paradoxically" if the cleanup is successful and gas is removed from the area, then if the case went to trial, the plaintiffs might not be able to win damages after all.
"I feel comfortable this settlement is in the best interests of the class," he said.
bull; Daily Herald Staff Writer Jake Griffin contributed to this report.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=297003">DuPage officials relieved landfill issue resolved <span class="date">[05/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=296992">Fears of tainted water still linger for family <span class="date">[05/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=296986">EPA: Original landfill releases ooze into river <span class="date">[05/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=296683">$8 million deal likely in two landfill contamination lawsuits <span class="date">[05/28/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>