Illinois EPA Refers Indian Liberty LLC to Attorney General for Enforcement

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) has referred an enforcement action to the Illinois Attorney General's Office against Indian Liberty LLC (Indian Liberty) for a release of crude oil and saltwater brine from Indian Liberty's Boyd Facility in Petrolia (Lawrence County). The release flowed over land into a roadside ditch, then flowed into Muddy Creek, to the Embarras River, and potentially to the Wabash River. The referral cites violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act and Illinois Pollution Control Board regulations.

On March 15, 2024, Illinois EPA received a Hazardous Materials Incident Report from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency for a release of approximately 250 barrels of crude oil and 1,000 barrels of saltwater from the oil/water separation pit at Indian Liberty's Boyd Facility. The release was initially discovered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resource (IDNR) Conservation Police, which then reported to the Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency and the IDNR Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management. IDNR traced the release back to the Boyd Facility. Operations were shut down at the facility and no additional product was released. However, the release traveled about 11 miles before it was contained with hard booms about 1.5 miles upstream from the mouth of the Wabash River.

Indian Liberty has hired an environmental contractor for containment and clean-up of the release. Unknown quantities of crude oil and saltwater brine remain in the impacted land and water. The contractor has deployed additional booms and staged vacuum trucks for collection at two additional locations in the Embarras River. Free product was collected with vacuum trucks from the Muddy Creek at Bridgeport Road, the Embarras River at Kiwanis Park in Lawrenceville, and the Embarrass River at Billet Lane. Clean-up is ongoing.

The referral asks the Attorney General's Office to represent the Illinois EPA to ensure that Indian Liberty remediates the release and coordinates with Illinois EPA and IDNR to implement necessary compliance measures. Those compliance measures include, but are not limited to, removing all crude oil deposits and collecting free product from impacted land and water locations; maintaining and switching booms and sorbents as needed; removing all impacted vegetation from land and waters of the state; excavating impacted soil; collect soil samples to confirm clean-up to land impacts; and disposing of impacted soil and all spent material properly at a permitted facility.