SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan appealed an order on Thursday that permits a chemical waste landfill to operate near a major source of DeWitt County drinking water.
Madigan appealed the decision by the Illinois Pollution Control Board to allow Clinton Landfill Inc. to construct and operate a chemical waste landfill above the Mahomet Aquifer. Madigan alleged the IPCB erred by deciding not to review Clinton's failure to obtain local approval from the DeWitt County Board before beginning construction.
"The landfill sits atop an aquifer that is the source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of central Illinoisans," Madigan said. "We're asking the court to intervene in the interest of their health and safety."
Clinton originally obtained approval as a municipal solid waste landfill before applying to receive a permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to build and operate a chemical waste landfill. The permit allows the company to proceed without local approval. Madigan alleges the site poses a significant risk to the drinking water of local residents if the chemical waste were to leak into the aquifer.
Madigan intervened in the case in 2012 as a plaintiff after area residents and local officials filed a complaint with the IPBC. The local government plaintiffs also filed a petition for review with the Fourth District Appellate Court.
Ill. AG appeals ruling in favor of landfill
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