Illinois
EPA Challenged by Village of DePue
Print, Sign, and Mail the
Petition to Cleanup the DePue Superfund Site
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is being called to
task by the Village of DePue for failure to enforce a federal
Superfund-related Interim Consent Order issued in 1995. Attorney
General Lisa Madigan has been asked to look into the state project
manager’s conduct, and investigate compliance enforcement and
reasons for lack of progress in consent order completion.
First term village mayor Eric Bryant says, “The agency has
dragged-out order implementation for 15 years with only minimal
remedial action being completed. We have not even been able to get a
copy of the original Work Plan that ExxonMobil, HH Liquidating Corp.
and CBS Operations, Inc. were required to submit to the IEPA in
1995-96 stating how the pollution would be identified and removed,
and a timeframe for those activities.”
The mayor says Lake DePue was one of the state’s most popular
natural resources connected to the Illinois River, which offered
excellent fishing, recreation, water fowl hunting and boating
venues. It has been the site for district and national championship
boat races for several decades. Contamination and silt in the lake
have already negatively impacted fishing and boating and threaten
future racing events. The 1200-acre lake and surrounding area are
the 14th worst toxic site on the U.S. Superfund’s National Priority
List.
“DePue will celebrate its 150th year as a village in 2011. It will
be a sad situation unless our national, state and local elected
officials step forward and spearhead restoration of the lake,”
Bryant says. “We also ask municipalities and counties throughout
Illinois to pass resolutions of support to restore the lake and
remove all area hazardous materials.”
“In addition, we ask Illinois’ residents – adults, teens and school
children - and organization’s representatives to sign a petition,
available at villageofdepue.com,
to demonstrate support. We also ask residents of other states to
print, sign and mail the petition for U.S. citizens that is
available at that site.”
The DePue campaign is called We the People of Illinois. It has
already begun and will continue until a public hearing is held in
late 2011. Its battle-cry is "Restore the Lake Before It’s Too
Late".