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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Environment - "EPA seizes Crestwood Illinois files: Raid comes after tainted-well report"

All in all, this is a pretty amazing set of stories.

On April 19th the Chicago Tribune published a story by its enviromental reporter, Michael Hawthorne, headlined "Poison in the well: Crestwood officials cut corners and supplied residents with tainted water for 2 decades." The long story began:

Like every town across the nation, south suburban Crestwood tucks a notice into utility bills each summer reassuring residents their drinking water is safe. Village leaders also trumpet the claim in their monthly newsletter, while boasting they offer the cheapest water rates in Cook County.

But those pronouncements hide a troubling reality: For more than two decades, the 11,000 or so residents in this working-class community unknowingly drank tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, a Tribune investigation found.

As village officials were building a national reputation for pinching pennies, and sending out fliers proclaiming Crestwood water was "Good to taste but not to waste!," state and village records obtained by the newspaper show they secretly were drawing water from a contaminated well, apparently to save money.

Officials kept using the well even though state environmental officials told them at least 22 years ago that dangerous chemicals related to a dry-cleaning solvent had oozed into the water, records show.

The village avoided scrutiny by telling state regulators in 1986 that they would get all of their tap water from Lake Michigan, and would use the well only in an emergency. But records show Crestwood kept drawing well water on a routine basis—relying on it for up to 20 percent of the village's water supply some months.

The well wasn't shut off for good until December 2007, after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency tested the water for the first time in more than 20 years. The agency found not only that the well was still contaminated but that Crestwood had been piping the water, untreated, to residents.

Since then, the EPA has cited Crestwood twice for violating environmental laws, yet has failed to notify people who drank the well water for years. The agency continues to investigate, and Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's office also is looking into the matter.

Nearly two weeks, and a number of stories later, Hawthorne and Carmen Greco Jr. have this story today in the Tribune. Some quotes:
Federal agents raided government offices in south suburban Crestwood on Wednesday, less than two weeks after a Tribune investigation revealed the village had secretly pumped drinking water from a polluted well for more than two decades.

Acting on a search warrant obtained by U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office, investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spent most of the day collecting records from Crestwood Village Hall, the public works department and the Police Department. They carted away several boxes of documents and took computers for further review.

The involvement of federal prosecutors signals a significant turn in the case. Most violations of environmental laws are handled in civil court, and criminal pollution investigations typically are directed at corporations and individuals, not municipalities.

Agents on the scene in Crestwood wouldn't say much, nor would Fitzgerald's office. But the raid closely followed the Tribune's April 19 report that village residents for years drank water contaminated with chemicals linked to cancer, liver damage and other ailments.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 30, 2009 09:06 AM
Posted to Environment