From a press release:
GREEN PARTY CALLS FOR CLEANUP OF CHAMPAIGN TOXIC SITE
URBANA, IL - The Prairie Green Party called on local officials, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and AmerenIP to take action to protect Champaign residents from the dangerous chemical waste site at 5th and Hill streets in Champaign. The abandoned former site of a coal gasification plant is contaminated with benzene and other carcinogenic compounds associated with coal tar, and a number of residents living in close proximity to the site are suffering from rare cancers linked to the contaminants.
"The city of Champaign, Champaign County, IEPA, and AmerenIP have known about this dangerous site for years and have failed to inform residents or begin the necessary job of cleaning up the site," said Walter Pituc, a Green Party candidate for Champaign County Board in District 7. Claudia Lenhoff of the Champaign County Health Care Consumers and co-organizer of the 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign told concerned citizens at a meeting on January 19th that residents were not provided with documentation describing the contamination at the site and the risks of exposure until the group began asking questions this fall. AmerenIP, which owns the site, is responsible for cleaning it up under state and federal policy.
"It shouldn't take public pressure to get this site cleaned up," said Joe Futrelle, a Green Party candidate for Champaign County Board in District 8. "It's the responsibility of city and county officials to hold responsible parties accountable for protecting citizens from serious public health risks." The toxic waste site is located in a working-class residential neighborhood with a majority African-American population.
"This is a matter of environmental and social justice," said Pituc, "and we need city and county officials that will provide leadership on the life-or-death matter of public health policy, instead of responding dismissively to public concerns." Greens believe that public policy should minimize the risk of exposure to toxic chemicals to all people regardless of race or economic status.
AmerenIP has finally provided documentation of their assessment and plans for the site, which is available to the public at the Douglass branch of the Champaign Public Library.
MORE INFORMATION:
Prairie Greens of East Central Illinois
http://www.prairiegreens.org###
Wow, pressure from the Greens. That will sure get things movin'.
They should have had Robert Kennedy Jr. look at it. He probably would not have even charged an additional fee for the trip across Wright St. Maybe the "Greens" can scrape another 25 grand and get Him back!
Pardon my ignorance, but isn't it already slated for cleanup?
rondipass:
That is weird. Do you have a point to posting their "press release" of demagogue rants---- claims of official negligence causing disease and death to support Lenhoff and Green campaigns.
This is unsupported, likely libelous, paranoid fear mongoring----"a number of residents living in close proximity to the site are suffering from rare cancers linked to the contaminants".
The real contaminant is this kind of political poison in our community.
As one of our local shrillniks told me, who they'd really like to take over isn't the water company, it's the "Power" company.
I think I've seen this one...toxic site, rare cancers, "evil corporations and their (gasp!) profits..." it's got that guy from Saturday Night Fever.
Oh yeah, this one.
I thought you were talking about this one.