In mid-September, the Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society, a watchdog group that keeps a protective eye on Illinois Beach State Park near Zion, gave good grades to Johns-Manville for its plans to dismantle and remove its former asbestos plant from Waukegan. That has changed over the course of the past few days. On Friday, the Preservation Society filed complaints against Manville with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Attorney General’s office alleging that the dismantling process is resulting in the release of asbestos and possibly other chemicals into the state park. The complaints allege that Manville has violated its Superfund consent decree, which does not allow the company to put any additional asbestos or chemicals into the filtration lagoons. The Preservation Society has asked the regulatory agencies for testing of lagoon runoff for asbestos, and chemicals formerly used at the plant such as mercury, lead and arsenic.
From Daily Regulatory Reporter
