News and Events Involving Environmental Law, Published by Chicago Environmental Attorney Dave Scriven-Young
of Peckar & Abramson, P.C. -- (312) 881-6309

Plastic Bag Manufacturer Settles State Enforcement Action Alleging Air Pollution Violations

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 24, 2009 7:27 am
The Illinois Pollution Control Board recently accepted the settlement of a State enforcement action in the case of People v. Golden Bag Co., PCB No. 06-144.  The case concerned a plastic bag manufacturing facility located at 290 Illinois Street, Dundee, Kane County, Illinois. The State alleged that the Defendant (1) caused, threatened, or allowed the discharge or emission of a contaminant into the environment through the production of scented bags resulting in the uncontrolled emission of volatile organic materials; (2) failed to obtain the requisite construction permits for the emission sources which it constructed at the facility; (3) failed to obtain an operating permit for its new emissions sources and air pollution control equipment; (4) operated a major source without a Clean Air Act Permit Program permit; (5) failed to comply with the new source review regulations as a result of its location in a severe ozone nonattainment area; (6) failed to submit complete and accurate annual emissions reports; (7) failed to demonstrate compliance with regulations governing flexographic printing operations; and (8) failed to comply recordkeeping and reporting requirements for flexographic printing operations. As part of the settlement, the Defendant neither admitted nor denied the alleged violations.  Also, the Defendant agreed to pay a civil penalty of $20,000. Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

Packaging Materials Manufacturer Settles Federal Enforcement Action Alleging Hazardous Waste Violations

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 22, 2009 7:29 am
On December 22, 2009, U.S. EPA announced that it settled an enforcement action against Clear Lam Packaging, an Elk Grove, Illinois manufacturer of flexible and rigid packaging materials. U.S. EPA alleged that Clear Lam "failed to have a hazardous waste storage permit, maintain aisle space in the hazardous waste storage area, keep hazardous waste containers closed, provide annual employee training and keep records about it, and have a complete contingency plan." Clear Lam will pay a $20,750 penalty and perform an environmental project costing at least $221,000.  It will "help protect the environment and public health by purchasing, installing and operating a solvent recovery system that will recycle approximately 100,000 gallons of hazardous waste annually." Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

Michigan Sues to Spark Action to Block Asian Carp

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 21, 2009 7:30 am
On December 21, 2009, the State of Michigan filed a petition and motion for a preliminary injunction asking the U.S. Supreme Court to order the State of Illinois, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "to immediately take all available measures within their respective control, consistent with the protection of public health and safety, to prevent the migration of bighead and silver carp into Lake Michigan, including, but not necessarily limited to, the following: (a) Closing and ceasing operation of the locks at the O'Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works. (b) Operating the sluice gates at the O'Brien Lock and Dam, the Chicago Controlling Works, and the Wilmette Pumping Station in a manner that will not allow fish to pass those structures into Lake Michigan. This should include maintaining the waterways at the lowest level possible that is still consistent with protecting against serious threats to public health and safety, and limits opening the gates except as required to prevent significant flooding that threatens public health or safety. (c) Installing interim Barriers or structures as needed in the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers to prevent the migration of bighead and silver carp into Lake Michigan. (d) Installing interim Barriers or structures between the Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent bighead and silver carp from entering the Canal from the Des Plaines River during a flood event. (e) Operating the existing Electrical Dispersal Barrier System at full operating power and expediting completion of the proposed Barrier IIB. (f) Comprehensively monitoring the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and all connected waterways for the presence and location of bighead and silver carp using the best available methods and techniques. (g) Eradicating any bighead or silver carp discovered in these waters." Responding to critics who have said that these proposed steps would harm the shipping industry, Michigan says that "no doubt [there would] be economic injury, but the damage will be finite, and will be miniscule in comparison to the economic harm caused should the carp enter the Great Lakes." Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

Rejecting Federal Officer Removal, Federal Court Remands Contamination Case to State Court

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 20, 2009 7:31 am
On December 15, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois remanded the case of Custer v. Cerro Flow Products, Inc., No. 09-514-DRH, to State court, rejecting the defendants' purported removal to Federal court based on the Federal Officer Removal Statute. The Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in State court alleging that they suffered serious life-threatening illnesses, including cancer, or that they have suffered property damage, as a result of exposure to hazardous substances, including polychlorinated biphenyls ("PCBs").  The Plaintiffs alleged that those substances were wrongfully disposed at three sites near Sauget, Illinois and released into the environment. The Defendants attempted to remove the lawsuit to Federal court (i.e., the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois) based on the Federal Officer Removal Statute, 28 U.S.C. 1442(a)(1), which provides: "A civil action or criminal prosecution commenced in a State court against any of the following may be removed by them to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place wherein it is pending: (1) The United States or any agency thereof or any officer (or any person acting under that officer) of the United States or of any agency thereof, sued in an official or individual capacity for any act under color of such office or on account of any right, title or authority claimed under any Act of Congress for the apprehension or punishment of criminals or the collection of the revenue." The Defendants alleged that the PCBs produced at their facilities were part of a contract with the federal government to produce chemicals for the war effort.  However, the Court found that federal officer removal did not apply here and that the case should be remanded back to State Court.  Specifically, the Court held that Defendants did not act under the direction of a federal officer: "[N]one of the evidence submitted by Defendants shows the federal government ordered the Defendants to continue production of PCBs or that the government directed the Defendants in how to handle or dispose of the PCBs that they produced. Once again, the production of PCBs is not at issue in this case, it is the mishandling of PCBs which is the basis of Plaintiffs’ complaint.  Therefore, the Defendants have not demonstrated that the government directed Defendants in the handling of PCBs nor have they demonstrated that the production of PCBs forms the basis of the liability alleged in this action." Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

Cleanup at Waukegan Lakefront Superfund Site to Continue

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 19, 2009 7:34 am
According to a recent article in the Lake County News-Sun, the U.S. EPA and the State of Illinois are set to invest tens of millions of dollars to continue cleanup at the Outboard Marine Corporation ("OMC") Superfund Site. Here is how U.S. EPA describes the OMC Site: It "is located on Lake Michigan around the northern Waukegan Harbor area in Waukegan, Illinois.  The site contains four cleanup parcels, called "operable units" (OU).  The Waukegan Harbor (WH) site is OU #1.  The Waukegan Manufactured Gas and Coke Plant (WCP) site is OU #2.  The PCB containment cells that were created when the harbor was cleaned up in 1990-1993 comprise OU #3, and the OMC Plant 2 site is OU #4. "Waukegan Harbor is a federally-authorized harbor that was constructed in the late 1800s. . . . From approximately 1948 to 1971, OMC purchased an estimated 8 million gallons of hydraulic fluid that contained PCBs and used it in its OMC Plant 2 building in its die casting process to make outboard motors.  The fluids containing PCBs were sometimes discharged through floor drains onto the OMC Plant 2 property and also into Waukegan Harbor.  As a result, 700,000 pounds of PCBs were estimated to be present in the soil on the OMC Plant 2 site and 300,000 pounds of PCBs were in the sediment in Waukegan Harbor.  OMC cleaned up PCB-contaminated northern harbor sediment and some of the OMC Plant 2 soils in 1990-1993. "OMC also operated several vapor degreasers at the OMC Plant 2 facility to clean newly made parts with trichloroethylene (TCE).  Leaking degreasers and/or TCE storage tanks have created a widespread TCE groundwater contaminant plume and an isolated dense, non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) pool of TCE beneath the OMC Plant 2 site.  OMC abandoned the Plant 2 facility in December 2002. "In the early 1900s, a wood-treating plant operated on the WCP site, followed by a manufactured gas plant in the 1920s and a coke oven gas plant in the 1940s.  The plant was purchased and disassembled by OMC in approximately 1972.  The WCP site was discovered during OMC's harbor cleanup in 1990.  It has arsenic and polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) soil contamination and the groundwater is contaminated with high levels of ammonia, arsenic, benzene, and phenol." According to the Lake County News-Sun article, the new cleanup work will include dredging of the Waukegan Harbor: "The harbor will be dredged to reduce PCB levels in sediments to 0.2 parts per million. . . . The dredging will go as deep as 10 to 15 feet, depending on what core samples reveal about PCBs in the sediment.  After dredging, a 6-inch layer of sand will cap the harbor floor." "The sediment will be pumped to the city-owned grounds at OMC Plant No. 2.  Eventually, the sediment will be covered with clean fill and could be turned into a park.  Water from the sediment will be returned to the harbor after meeting federal clean drinking water standards. "The federal government is paying 90 percent of the estimated $35 million project, and the state will cover the other 10 percent. The project should be completed by 2012. "Demolition of the final 600,000 square feet of OMC Plant No. 2 will cost about $21 million, funded by a federal economic stimulus grant.  PCBs, trichloroethylene (TCE) and asbestos must be removed before most of that building can be demolished by Tecnica Environmental Services and Brandenburg Industrial Services Co., both minority-owned businesses from Chicago. "The remnant of Plant No. 2 that houses a decontamination unit, which is cleaning groundwater at the gas and coke plant site, will remain for another two to three years. The project to remove TCE from groundwater at the Plant No. 2 site will begin after building demolition is complete in 2010.  That work will take two months, and then the site will be monitored for a year. "The TCE plume in the groundwater will be treated with iron filings and clay.  Iron reacts with trichloroethylene, which was used as a degreaser, rendering it harmless.  The clay will bind the sand aquifer to stop groundwater from flowing through the site. "Environmental engineers also will inject sodium lactate, which is food for the naturally occurring bacteria that is already breaking down the TCE.  Bioremediation would take about four years." Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

Illinois EPA Announces Cleanup of Illegal Dump Site

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 19, 2009 7:32 am
On December 16, 2009, the Illinois EPA announced a plan to cleanup an illegal dump site located at 140 Kohl Street, Creve Coeur, Tazewell County, Illinois. Illinois EPA "will clean up approximately 200 cubic yards of used and waste tires, white goods, vehicles, general construction or demolition debris, and general household refuse" at the property. "While all illegally dumped waste presents an environmental and safety problem, improperly disposed tires provide a breeding habitat for the type of mosquito that is the primary carrier of the West Nile Virus.  The Illinois EPA’s Used Tire Program removes waste tires and other materials that provide mosquito habitat.  The Agency’s I-RID (Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps) Program facilitates the removal of waste at orphan dump sites, which prevents future dumping on public and private properties." The cleanup is expected to be completed by mid-January 2010. Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

Federal Government Allocates $13 Million to Fight Asian Carp

Posted by Dave Scriven-Young on December 17, 2009 7:35 am
According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the federal government will allocate $13 million to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.  The money will come from the $475 million fund that Congress appropriated for a comprehensive restoration of the Great Lakes. The $13 million "will be used for engineering projects to prevent the carp from slipping into Lake Michigan near Chicago. They include closing conduits and shoring up low-lying lands between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal — which leads to the lake — and other waterways." Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.

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