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Kirk says
sanitary district
didn't come clean on sludge
Chicago Tribune—2/14
The
North Shore Sanitary District understated the amount of toxic
chemicals that could spew from its proposed waste-treatment plant
in Waukegan, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Thursday.
Kirk,
who previously asked federal officials to halt the project, said
he has received new information that indicates the proposed $26
million plant would be a major polluter on Lake Michigan.
Outlined
in internal Sanitary District documents that lawyers for Waukegan
gave Kirk, the information details potential emissions of volatile
organic compounds, which can be highly toxic, he said.
Kirk,
who said that information was not previously disclosed, forwarded
the material this week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
saying the Sanitary District's permit for the project should be
re-examined.
"When
the [Sanitary District] applies for a permit that involves pollution,
they need to be very careful and disclose all of their sources
of pollution that would emanate from this sludge-burning factory,"
he said. "I am concerned ... that they may not have fully
disclosed all the pollution that will emanate from this facility."
Sanitary
District officials denied they had left anything out of their
permit application with the EPA.
"All
of the relevant information was thoroughly disclosed in the permit
applications," Sanitary District attorney Francis Lyons said
Thursday.
Jeffrey
Jeep, an attorney for Waukegan, said the internal documents show
that toxic chemicals would be produced in the new plant's dryer.
Based
on those documents, experts hired by the city estimate the total
annual emissions would exceed 25 tons, which would constitute
a "major" source of pollution, according to EPA standards,
Jeep said.
According
to the EPA permit, the waste plant was considered a "minor"
source of pollution.
"The
[EPA application] focused on the smokestack but not the real source
of emissions in this dryer," Jeep said. "It's like saying,
`Look how clean my stack is,' when you're pouring this stuff in
the back alley."
The
Illinois EPA gave the Sanitary District a permit last March to
start the project.
Kim
Kuntzman, a spokeswoman for the Illinois EPA, said Thursday the
allegations raised by Kirk could prompt a review of the permit.
Meanwhile,
attorneys for the Sanitary District told a Lake County Circuit
Court judge Thursday that construction of the plant is scheduled
to begin next week, prompting Waukegan city attorneys to vow they
would go to court Tuesday to stop it.
"They
have not been given zoning approval," Jeep said.
If
the Sanitary District misses its March 11 deadline to begin construction,
it would be required to get a new permit from the EPA.
The
Sanitary District, which contends it does not need the city's
approval to proceed with its plans, has used a landfill for nearly
100 years to dispose of the sewage waste it collects from far
north suburban communities along the lakefront.
But
the Sanitary District decided last year to embark on a new plan
to build a plant that would use a drying and melting process to
convert the sludge that remains after the waste-treatment process
into a ceramic or glasslike byproduct.
The
same technology has been used for years in Europe and at a paper
mill waste-treatment facility in Wisconsin. But it has never been
used in the United States to dispose of sludge.
The
plan immediately incurred the wrath of Kirk and local environmentalists,
who said it would pump mercury pollution into the air.
The
mercury could settle in Lake Michigan, which is already under
a fish consumption advisory because of mercury and other pollutants.
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause serious health problems,
especially for pregnant women and children.
The
state EPA permit issued a year ago would allow the new plant to
emit up to 92 pounds of mercury each year--an amount Kirk and
the environmentalists contend is unacceptable.
Partly
in response to those concerns, the Sanitary District bought a
$400,000 device it said would reduce the mercury releases to less
than 2 pounds of mercury annually--an amount far below the district's
permitted level.
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