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Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Environment - Illegal dumping in the news today

First, there is this incredible story in the Chicago Tribune about illegal dumps in Harvey Illinois, that begins:

By nature, the city of Harvey is flat as a pancake, but in the last four years parts of town became suspiciously hilly, with a few peaks rising some 40 feet above grade.

Tens of thousands of truckloads of illegally dumped debris from construction sites, road projects and other refuse literally changed the landscape on the west side and left one piece of property on the east side looking like a ruined city, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan has charged.

In an effort to clean up the sites, Madigan's office and Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine filed four lawsuits this year against landowners and a company operating on property belonging to the Harvey Park District, which owns a police firing range that authorities allege is an illegal dump site.

The goal is to have landowners pay to have huge amounts of waste hauled away to landfills, a task almost certain to cost tens of millions of dollars. If the suits are successful, the defendants could face fines of up to $10,000 a day until the sites are cleared, Madigan said. And Harvey could face one less challenge.

"It's become a chronic problem," Madigan said. "Southern Cook County, as everyone knows, is a low-income community. They already have an urban blight situation where they have businesses and residentially zoned areas that have been abandoned. ... Harvey doesn't need another eyesore." * * *

Madigan's office estimates 56,000 truckloads of waste lay beneath the 12-acre site belonging to Daniel Serritella, a friend of ex-Mayor Nickolas Graves. Thousands of loads are buried across Campbell Avenue, on a 6-acre site belonging to Harvey police officer Manuel Escalante, Madigan charges. * * * Graves, who was mayor when dumping at all four sites is alleged to have occurred, said he never knew of anything but legal fill material, primarily dirt, being hauled into Worthy Park. And he didn't know the extent of it because he rarely ventured into that corner of town, he said. "One day I went to go to the range ... and I couldn't believe it," he said.

Then there is a story in the Gary Post-Tribune, with the headline "Government hasn’t sighted cited dump site" that begins:
SOUTH HAVEN — Despite a recent well-publicized controversy about dumping on township property by the township trustee, the Porter County Planning Commission has not inspected the site.

On Tuesday, Porter County Planner Robert Thompson said he has seen photographs of discarded material behind Haven Hollow park on County Road 700N in South Haven, but still hasn’t visited the site.

Thompson said he hasn’t received an official complaint, which he needs in order to begin the necessary paperwork to document a zoning violation. Also, Thompson said, his office is busy with complaints, so it will be a while before he can investigate more. * * *

Portage Township Trustee Jack Jent has acknowledged disposing of township materials that ranged from old, unshredded checks and bank statements to grave blankets, but said the asphalt shingles there predated his administration.

When community activist Jeremy Rivas heard about the dump, he investigated and contacted the Porter County Environmental Department, which visited and determined most of the materials were legal for a clean landfill. Jent threatened to prosecute Rivas if he found him on the property again. * * *

When asked previously about the legality of the site, which is zoned “rural residential,” Thompson said he could not comment because he hadn’t seen the area yet. In general, rural residential areas do not allow any type of landfill operations, he noted.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 14, 2004 08:07 AM
Posted to Environmental Issues