Illinois EPA initiates cleanup of environmental eyesore in Fayette County

WRIGHTS CORNER -- Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Director Doug Scott announced that the Agency will clean up illegally dumped waste 12 miles north of St. Elmo on County Rd. 2700 in Wrights Corner located in Fayette County.  Weather permitting, work will begin Tuesday, January 16 and is anticipated to finish Friday, January 19.  Among the nearly 500 cubic yards of waste to be removed are tires, household waste, computers, couches, chairs, asphalt shingles, desks, and office cabinets.  The cleanup is being conducted as part of the recently enacted I-RID (Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps) Program.

 

 "Illegal open dumping around Illinois can potentially pose health and safety hazards to both people and the environment, but the I-RID program has begun to tackle those environmental eyesores," said Illinois EPA Director Scott.  "This is the first time in the 36-year history of the Illinois EPA that we have had significant state funds to address orphan open dumps that have festered for years, and I am grateful to Governor Blagojevich and the General Assembly for providing additional funding and authority to Illinois EPA to clean up these messes."

 

The I-RID Program became law in 2005 to give the IEPA additional authority to combat open dumping and clean up existing dumps.  These dumps often become a magnet to fly dumpers, and frequently become health and safety hazards.  The program uses part of existing landfill fee revenues to cover costs of additional IEPA inspection staff and cleanups.

 

With the funding, the IEPA can hire contractors to clean up open dumps where responsible parties can not be located or where various specific imminent threats, such as fire, are present.  The new law also provides for permitting and regulation of the disposal of clean construction or demolition debris, such as in former quarries, and gives the IEPA Director additional authority to seal sites where there is a potential risk for harm to human health or the environment.

Since cleanups were launched in September, the program has conducted approximately 40 open dump cleanups throughout the state, in both rural and urban areas.  Approximately 7,500 tons of solid waste has been collected and sent to regulated landfills for disposal, 75 tons of waste has been sent to salvage and recycling facilities and 30 tons of tires have been collected and recycled.

 

Working with local and county officials to identify candidates for IRID cleanups, Illinois EPA has cleaned up sites ranging from the tip of Southern Illinois near Cave-in-Rock to rural central and eastern Illinois and urban locations in the Chicago metro area.

 

The cleanup in Fayette County is expected to take three days to complete.  The IEPA will periodically inspect the site to ensure that the problem does not recur, and has the authority to issue administrative citations to violators of this and other provisions of the Environmental Protection Act.

 

###