Way back in November, the City Council heard a presentation from Peoria Disposal Company (PDC) about how they want to expand their landfill in Pottstown, just outside the city limits. They didn’t have to do this presentation, since it’s a Peoria County decision, but they did it anyway as a courtesy to the city residents who will be affected (or unaffected, they argued) by this expansion.
At that time, they mentioned they were going to be filing an application to expand, and that a public hearing would take place 90-100 days later. That would put it roughly in February 2006, which is almost upon us.
So I wasn’t surprised when I got this e-mail from a concerned citizen:
We are very concerned regarding PDC’s proposed expansion of it’s toxic waste dump just down the road in Pottstown. We’ve found that many Peorians don’t even know this site exists and the County Board is now tasked with deciding if it can expand even further. Key facts:
-The toxic landfill is one of only 15 in the US; 14 states ship their toxic waste here.
-The dump sits atop an aquifer; the company claims their plastic liners will last “centuries” but that promise seems highly unrealistic and certainly unproven
-PDC is Peoria County’s second highest facility contributing to cancer risks (160,000 lbs annually); (source: Scorecard.com)
-PDC ranks 19 of all US companies with the highest toxic chemical releases in the nation (20 million pounds annual; 1st in Peoria County). (source: Scorecard.com)
-PDC is ranked #4 air polluter in Peoria County (source: Scorecard.com)
-According to its website the Peoria County Board only requires PDC to notify residents within 250 feet of the site and one notice in the Journal Star. The Board indicates this is a “very public”, “many step” process to “inform” and “educate” the public (see website link). We disagree.
http://www.co.peoria.il.us/display.php?section=county&page=pdc-Lastly, the company has a good reputation and the owners are respected locals. However, our common sense concern about the health and safety of our children is more compelling than the owner’s reputation. Furthermore, the company can always sell to a non-local corporation, putting Peoria and our neighborhoods in even greater jeopardy.
The list of concerns goes on and on but you get the idea. We’ve just started a new group call “Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste”. We have lots of information and want to ensure our neighborhood is informed.
I thought there would be a fight on this one. The issue is one of risk — how risky is it to have all this toxic waste on our border? In their presentation last November, PDC was adamant that their safety measures were impeccable, and I don’t doubt it. But as concerned citizen John McClain said after the presentation that night, there are things out of the company’s control (natural disasters, accidents, terrorism) that could compromise the safety of the dump. In other words, there’s still a risk; the question is, how much risk are residents willing to accept? I suppose we’ll find out at the public hearing.
The critics as usual offer no alternative. Toxic waste is always going to be in someone’s back yard. There is no sure fire way to store the stuff. That is a reality of the industrialized world that we live in. I don’t necessarily like that fact that we have a toxic waste dump, but I do feel that Peoria ought to take care of its OWN waste and not ship off to some else’s back yard. On the flip side, I don’t think Peoria County ought to be taking in anyone else’s trash either. That is, in my mind, the real problem here. PDC wants to expand the landfill so that they can accept more waste from say… Chicago, or other states. Wrong ! Those other places ought to be storing their own waste or looking for alternative ways to reprocess or recycle the stuff.
If you can’t shunt your problems off on to other people, that can drive people to develop new ideas.
Unfortunately “scorecard.com” which is the supposed source for all this information is a site that ranks e-tailer performance. Doing a little checking on the internet, I couldn’t find any other source for this information. I don’t doubt that the information is true, but the email needs to have an accurate source.
“Toxic Waste” and “Cancer” are scary words, but I haven’t seen any facts to back up the claims. If anyone knows where to find such information (in a reasonable form that I don’t have to have a PHD in Chemistry to understand), I’d like to know.
I had a Bradley student come up to me last summer asking me to sign a petition against the expansion. It was the first I had heard about it, and I started asking questions. The kid didn’t seem to know too much about it either, other than the usual scare tactics. I told him I wasn’t going to sign until I knew more… before he walked away, he basically told me I didn’t care about my kids and they were going to get cancer.