Illinois EPA initiates cleanup of potential environmental hazard Marion County

IUKA  — Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) Director Doug Scott today announced that the Agency will begin cleanup of an illegal dump site located at 7404 Calvert Rd. in Iuka in Marion County. Work will begin Tuesday, November 13 and will finish Friday, November 16, weather permitting. 

 

Among the 150 cubic yards of waste spilling out onto the county road are scrap metal and trash, mattresses, junk furniture, construction debris, white goods, and waste tires.  All illegally disposed waste is harmful to the environment, but improperly disposed tires are of special concern.  

 

Improperly disposed tires provide a breeding habitat for the type of mosquito that is the primary carrier of the West Nile Virus.  The cleanup is being conducted as part of the I-RID (Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps) Program, which continues to remove environmental hazards and protect our Illinois' beautiful landscape.

 

"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 37-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."

 

Since the statewide cleanups were launched, the program has conducted nearly 120 open dump cleanups throughout the state, in both rural and urban areas.  Approximately 21,000 tons of solid waste has been collected and sent to regulated landfills for disposal, almost 300 tons of recyclable metal waste has been sent to salvage and recycling facilities and nearly 300 tons of tires have been collected and recycled.

 

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 cannot 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.

Working with local and county officials to identify candidates for I-RID 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 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.

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