Sierra Club and American Bottom Conservancy announced today that they have sued the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for the second time for failing to take action on a permit for the Onyx hazardous waste incinerator in Sauget, IL.

The incinerator, located next to East St. Louis and just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, has a long history of operational problems, including explosions and releases of toxic chemicals. As recently as November of 2005, Onyx agreed to pay $ 150,000 for alleged violations. The facility has been fined more than $ 3 million in recent years.

“We filed suit once again because USEPA apparently needs an incentive to do the right thing. The Onyx incinerator has long endangered the health and welfare of the residents in that area,” said Verena Owen, Illinois Sierra Club's clean air campaign chair. “It is USEPA's responsibility to bring Onyx into compliance and to ensure that the facility is operated in a safe manner. If Onyx cannot comply with air regulations, USEPA has to deny their operating permit.”

USEPA has oversight of Illinois' air operating permit program. After the organizations sued USEPA last year, pointing out a number of deficiencies in IEPA's permit for Onyx, USEPA issued an order in February granting many of the objections of the organizations and sent the permit back to Illinois EPA.

When IEPA failed to reissue an amended permit by May 2 of this year, the responsibility reverted to USEPA. Sierra Club and American Bottom Conservancy again notified US EPA on May 18, 2006, of their intent to sue the Agency within 60 days for failure to perform a duty and unreasonable delay of an action. USEPA did not act within the 60 days, prompting the organizations to file this second lawsuit.

“We have been working on this Onyx permit since 2003,” says Kathy Andria, president of the American Bottom Conservancy and conservation chair for the Kaskaskia Group of the Sierra Club. “IEPA had had it since 1995. We gave USEPA ample time to comply with the law. They did not. It's a disgrace that citizens have to resort to a lawsuit to get environmental laws enforced. It is even more shameful because most of the folks who live closest to this hazardous waste incinerator are low income and minority. Whatever happened to environmental justice?”

“Tourists could be affected, too. Downtown St. Louis, the Arch and Busch Stadium are not far from this facility,” added Jason Warner, Kaskaskia Group chair. “A facility like this should never have been allowed to locate in the midst of so many people.”

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division by Attorney David Bender of Garvey, McNeil & McGillivray of Madison, Wisconsin.