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Judge
halts waste plant work
Chicago Tribune
- 2/19
On
the same day it planned to break ground for a controversial waste-treatment
plant on Waukegan's lakefront, the North Shore Sanitary District
was ordered Tuesday to halt the project--at least temporarily.
Lake
County Circuit Judge Stephen Walter issued a two-week restraining
order after attorneys for Waukegan argued that the project had
not received the necessary city permits.
"The
city has the right to enforce its ordinances," Walter ruled
over the objections of sanitary district attorneys.
The
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency granted an air-pollution
permit to the district last March, opening the door for the agency
to start construction.
If
it misses a March 11 deadline to start work, the sanitary district
would need to get a new permit from the EPA. The district has
been unable to win zoning and siting permits for the plant from
Waukegan.
With
time running out, the sanitary district recently announced plans
to begin construction on the $26 million project this week, prompting
Waukegan to go to court to stop it.
"We're
disappointed, but we will continue to seek an extension with the
EPA," said Francis Lyons, a lawyer for the sanitary district.
The
district will now ask the EPA to grant a permit extension so the
plant can be built, he said.
City
officials contend the new plant would clash with plans to redevelop
the lakefront and would expose residents to a new source of pollution.
The
new facility would use a controversial dryer and melting process
to convert sludge into a byproduct used in road construction.
The plant, which would use technology popular in Europe, would
be the first of its kind in the United States.
In
a move aimed at stopping the project, Waukegan sued the district
in December, asserting the city's approval was necessary for work
to move forward.
Walter
agreed, prompting the sanitary district to appeal to the Illinois
Appellate Court. The case is pending.
Michael
Blazer, an environmental law attorney the city hired to fight
the plant, accused the sanitary district Tuesday of withholding
damaging information from the EPA when it applied for its permit.
The
plant would emit a "toxic moonshine" into the atmosphere
at levels greater than previously disclosed by the sanitary district,
he said.
Last
week, lawyers for Waukegan said experts hired by the city have
estimated the annual emissions of toxic organic compounds at the
plant would be more than 25 tons.
Sanitary
district officials scoff at that figure, maintaining less than
2 pounds of volatile organic compounds would be emitted--an assertion
they said was outlined in the district's permit application with
the EPA.
"There's
more fumes coming out of an automobile's gas tank," said
Mark Furlane, a lawyer for the sanitary district.
Lyons
said district officials look forward to meeting with the EPA to
clear up the discrepancy and get a minimum 45-day extension of
its current permit.
Though
sanitary district officials said they would prefer to build the
plant in Waukegan because of its proximity to Lake Michigan, they
said they would be willing to build it on their landfill site
in Zion.
But
that option would cost the sanitary district, and local taxpayers,
another $18 million because of the cost of getting water to the
site.
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