Clinton Landfill Consent Decree Filed In Court
Map of the Mahomet Aquifer, the underground water source that the settlement with the Clinton Landfill is meant to protect. (Illinois State Water Survey)
After months of negotiations and review, a settlement putting limits on what goes into the Clinton Landfill is official.
The consent decree involving the landfill, 14 local governments and the state Attorney General’s office was filed in DeWitt County Court Thursday. Under terms of a consent decree, the landfill gives up efforts to take in toxic PCB waste, and will no longer take in manufactured gas plant waste.
But the landfill will keep the gas plant waste it already has, although with additional protections. That was opposed by the group W.A.T.C.H Clinton Landfill. W.A.T.C.H President Bill Spencer says Judge Roger Webber rejected their request for more time to intervene in the case.
Spencer says he’s disappointed, because his group and the 14 governments share the same goal.
“We’re all concerned about the Mahomet Aquifer and protecting it,” said Spencer. “They just decided to go ahead and allow the landfill to continue operation, and W.A.T.C.H is opposed to that.”
Under terms of the consent decree, a coalition of local governments is dropping its Pollution Control Board complaint against the Clinton Landfill.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a news release that the landfill had tried to evade state law by getting its permit modified to accept the chemical waste, without local county board approval. That charge was at the heart of the coalition’s complaint, which sought to send the landfill’s permit back to the DeWitt County Board for review.
W.A.T.C.H opposes the dropping of that complaint, and wants the gas plant waste at the landfill removed. The group filed its own lawsuit against the Clinton Landfill last month.
(Copy revised 7:15 AM 11/13/15 to restore a dropped line)