Madigan is asking a LaSalle County Circuit Court judge to order the dumps about 60 miles southwest of Chicago to halt operations after numerous alleged violations, including newly documented cases of banned materials dumped in the sites this year.
| Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan moved Monday to shut down a pair of so-called “clean-fill” quarries accused of taking in harmful materials that threaten to pollute local drinking water sources in LaSalle County.
Madigan is asking a LaSalle County Circuit Court judge to order the dumps about 60 miles southwest of Chicago to halt operations after numerous alleged violations, including newly documented cases of banned materials dumped in the sites this year.
Some communities, politicians and environmental groups have pressed state lawmakers to require groundwater testing around the more than 90 Illinois quarries accepting construction debris that’s supposed to be restricted to rock, concrete, bricks and soil.
Attorneys for Madigan’s office allege that even after filing initial lawsuits in May against quarry owners Sheridan-Joliet Land Development LLC and Sheridan Sand & Gravel Co. that officials at the dump sites continued accepting prohibited materials.
In January, the state EPA inspector reported “a distinct petroleum odor emanating” from two large soil piles at the Sheridan site, according to court filings.
That same site is now operating with an expired permit, according to the court filing by Madigan.
“We will continue to work closely with our General Assembly on legislation to enact change, while working cooperatively with the Attorney General to ensure that these sites receive the proper oversight,” Illinois EPA Director Alec Messina said in a statement to the BGA.
Madigan and others say groundwater around the construction dump sites need to be tested for potential contaminants.
Quarry owners, construction companies and trade unions have blocked bills in the Illinois Legislature this past session that would have required groundwater testing.

Brevard County school officials said they will test the drinking water at 13 campuses on the barrier islands for possible contamination after firefighting chemicals were discovered in the groundwater at Patrick Air Force Base recently.
Officials said there is no information that there are problems with the drinking water at the schools or the water from Melbourne or Cocoa water utilities.
Even so, school officials said they want to collect scientific data on the water before students return to classes in August.
Residents became alarmed about water contamination after recent media reports of traces of firefighting chemicals were found in the underground water at the Air Force base in 2014 and 2017.
The chemicals found – perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid – are in firefighting foam and implicated in some types of cancer and thyroid effects, school officials said, pointing to several scientific studies.
The school district will test the drinking water at the following schools: Satellite High, Delaura Middle, Holland Elementary, Surfiside Elementary, Cocoa Beach Junior and Senior High, Freedom 7 Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Cape View Elementary, Ocean Breeze Elementary, Hoover Middle, Indialantic Elementary, Gemini Elementary.
mcomas@orlandosentinel.com

PETERSBURGH — Taconic plastics plant is beginning an in-depth investigation into the extent of PFOA contamination around its Route 22 plant — more than two years after the company first alerted the state to renewed concerns about contamination around its property.
In Jan. 2016, Taconic reached out to the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Health Department about previous PFOA contamination at its manufacturing facility in the wake of revelations about the nearby Village of Hoosick Falls public water supply being contaminated with PFOA since at least 2014.
Taconic responded by signing a consent order with the state in November 2016 that required a filtration system be placed on Petersburgh’s small municipal water plant, as well as testing and filtration systems installed for private wells in the area.
But as part of the consent order, Taconic was also required to investigate how much of the surrounding environs are contaminated, and if there is a way to clean it up beyond just providing water filtration systems to residents.
The state DEC announced last week that the investigation’s findings will be released in a report sometime in 2019, followed by a study suggesting ways to clean up the contamination.
But the state said at the time PFOA was not a regulated contaminant.
In 2005, the company installed a carbon-filter system on its plant wells along the Little Hoosic River after it said low levels of the chemical were discovered.
Alternative water treatment systems were also installed for nearby residents.
The site has made polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coated fabrics there since about 1961.
PTFE previously contained PFOA.

The first of the EPA’s community engagement events dedicated to the PFAS crisis took place June 25 and 26 in Exeter, NH, where community activists had their say on the Saint-Gobain water contamination crisis that has rocked the Merrimack area.
In a statement to more than 200 attendees on June 25, Laurene Allen, leader of Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water, said, “Merrimack residents need more protective laws as along with our neighboring towns of Bedford and Litchfield, we continue to be impacted by PFAS contamination that Saint-Gobain does not need to disclose to the NH Department of Environmental Services as the chemical industry has more protection than its victims.
We, the victims, are paying for their crimes.” Allen was one of 47 New England residents who spoke, including 30 community members who were directly impacted by contamination.
Jim Martin, a spokesman for the DES, which has worked closely with the EPA on monitoring the Merrimack area after Saint-Gobain reported PFAS water contamination in 2016, said, “The event provided an excellent opportunity for the EPA to hear firsthand accounts from community leaders in New England about PFAS in their communities on a personal level and how it has impacted their own families.” The event on June 25 started at 7 p.m. and completed at 11, where community presentations and public comments were heard.
In a statement released after the engagement event concluded, DES Commissioner Robert Scott said, “We are pleased the EPA was able to hear from our local communities about their concerns regarding PFAS contamination and we look forward to working with the EPA to establish PFAS drinking water standards.” EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced four actions the EPA will take to address the PFAS issue at the national leadership summit in Washington in May, including evaluating the need for establishing Maximum Contaminant Levels for PFOA and PFOS, which were found in Merrimack.
Alexandra Dunn, the EPA’s New England regional administrator, said the EPA’s current levels of 70 parts per trillion for PFOAs and PFOS is a health advisory, not a regulation, which it will become with the establishment of a MCL.
Allen, who wants the EPA to develop a lower standard than the 70 parts per trillion health advisory, said, “EPA’s commitments don’t go far enough.” The Exeter event was the first to follow up the national leadership summit, where Pruitt outlined the EPA’s four point action plan.
The next three events will be held in Pennsylvania, Colorado and North Carolina.
“We received many suggestions at the event in Exeter that will be used to establish our national management plan,” Dunn said.
“Community leaders in New Hampshire gave wonderful support to the EPA as we planned the event and we hope it met their goal of being heard on this issue of grave concern.”

In what is already a raging wildfire season, forest service and water officials in Colorado are working to protect the state’s watersheds from contamination.
Damage to water supplies in reservoirs can be disruptive and cost millions in repairs down the line.
He is also the study’s lead author.
The study, funded by The Water Research Foundation and presented at CU last month, lists challenges posed by wildfires, including short- and long-term effects of the availability and quality of drinking-water sources used by major metropolitan areas such as Denver.
The work includes thinning trees and restoring forest on more than 40,000 acres of watershed deemed critical to downstream water supplies, Burri said.
Those areas provide clean drinking water to more than 1.4 million residents in the Denver area, Burri said.
Protecting watersheds has become a top priority on the Front Range, according to Mike Myers, chief of the Colorado Springs Wildland Fire Team, as major wildfires have become almost year-round events.
Colorado Springs, however, was able to draw on two smaller reservoirs to provide safe drinking water for residents, Myers said.
The results showed the heated materials increased the turbidity of the water, a key measure of water quality, and responded poorly to chemical coagulants, leading to downstream filtration problems, the CU researchers said.
Tree-thinning and other mitigation work around Denver Water’s Cheesman Reservoir paid off in 2002 during the Hayman fire, which scorched 138,114 acres.

At least 250 people in the town of Ramhormoz, mostly children, have been poisoned due to water contamination, in the city of Ramhormoz, south west of Iran.
The city’s governor, Abdolreza Ehsani Nia was cited by the state-run IRNA news agency as declaring, “From Saturday until Monday morning, 350 poisoned people residing in the village of Abu al Fares visited the treatment centers in the city.” According to the official, 78 of these people were hospitalized in Sina, Naft Ahwaz and Ramhormoz hospitals.
He did not mention the reason of poisoning spread among hundreds of the residents.
According to reports, people who have been poisoned, live in the villages of “Shahid Rayegani”, “Setalvan” and “Kaboutari” in Abu al Fares district.
Ataollah Sherali, head of the Ramhormz health center, said the poisoned people have suffered from diarrhea and fever.
He declared the possible cause of the poisoning of these people as “contaminated with water.” The official had warned about two years ago that the water of the Abu al Fares Districts was infected because of “non-compliance with the principles of water chlorination.” According to the head of the Ramhormoz health center, the amount of chlorine at the beginning of the pipeline is high, but along the way, chlorine combines with organic matter in the water, so that at the end of the pipeline, no more chlorine left.
According to IRNA, quoting Shukrollah Salmanzadeh, head of the Khuzestan Health Center, “The cause of poisoning is certainly the consumption of contaminated water because due to 20 hours of water being cut-off, people used spring water and after the water was connected, chlorine-free water has been entering the supply networks.” However, the authorities of the Khuzestan province have denied any water pollution.
The news of recent poisoning of Ramhormoz residents came just days after protests over water shortages turned violent overnight with reports of police shooting at demonstrators, killing at list one.

Water is important because it is essential to life on earth the most important and basic necessity for human life without water life can’t exist.
Humans can only live three days without water, though it is possible to live weeks without food.
With intent trapped this writer to commit whether the drinking water that is being made available for drinking purpose to its citizens or those who visit the state is safe for drinking as per norms under law.
But it did happen as he posed the counter query then why the potable water that is made available to the general masses by the authorities is not being used themselves for drinking .Is not act of discrimination he asked on the part of authorities being conducted in full view of the public in Government functions or for daily need authorities right from Governor down to who matters use bottled water.
This called for the attention to ponder whether drinking water which is known being used for drinking purpose from any source is subjected to analysis for free from any micro-organisms and parasites and from any substances which, in numbers or concentrations, constitute a potential danger to human health.
State cannot afford as a welfare State to have lackadaisical approach not to make sure drinking potable water is safe as per norms and water sources free from any contamination.
With the establishment of J&k State Pollution Control Board in the State, strengthened the belief of the public that hereafter the Potable Water being made available to the people is as per laid down norms.
Whose quality is subject to requires tests as per laid down norms before it is allowed to be supplied for the public uses.
Readers are apprised with the fact that State Pollution Control Board was established in the State in 1987 to ensure Prevention and Control of Water Pollution and the maintain or restoring of wholesomeness of water of rivers and streams, for maintain or restoring wholesomeness of such water courses and controlling the existing and new discharges of domestic and industrial waste.
Public Health Engineering Department do bleaching or chlorination at source take once in a while water sample from the source to be subject test, but it is its statutory duty to ensure standard of water being supplied is maintained up to the tap.

Joe Kristan/Special to the Register, Des Moines Register The city of Ankeny experienced a major water main break overnight Saturday that led to a city-wide boil order for a short time.
The water main break was located on the south side of Northwest 18th Street, west of Ankeny Boulevard, the city said.
At about 10 p.m. Saturday, Tim and Jami Strazzo watched the water slowly trickle up from their drains in their newly-finished basement on NW Lakeside Drive, just off of NW 18th Street in Ankeny.
​​​​​​Tips during boil advisories: To prevent contamination, you must boil all tap water you use inside your home.
To be clear, you must boil your water before using it to: Wash fruits and vegetables Can’t boil your water?
According to the CDC, you also can disinfect your water if boiling it is not an option.
You also must sanitize your containers properly before storing the safe water.
What about bathing and showering?
Other tips: Keep a good stock of bottled water handy in case of a boil water advisory.
Serve your pets bottled water or boiled water that has been cooled.

The latest is in St. Paul Park, which recently shut down two of its three wells because the pollution in the water doubled.
The levels of pollution have danced above and below safety limits in Oakdale, Woodbury, Lake Elmo and Cottage Grove — making it a harrowing and expensive problem to solve.
The perfluorochemicals, or PFCs, were dumped into landfills in the 1970s and discovered in drinking water in 2004.
When a water well is turned on, for example, it sucks up water and pollution-bearing water flows in to replace it.
“We saw a little pulse of chemicals moving away,” said Yingling.
When pollution is detected, state officials never order that polluted wells be closed.
Two of the city’s four wells were shut down, and the city spent “tens of millions” piping clean water to well-closure areas, according to city administrator Kristina Handt.
The city shut wells down, dug a new one and installed filters on the water system.
St. Paul Park is not sitting on an underground lake of pollution, but is getting whacked by the flailing tail of a pollution plume.
“It is getting a little contamination from Oakdale, and possibly Lake Elmo, flowing intermittently to the Mississippi River,” said Yingling.

It’s just a drop in the Pentagon’s $716 billion budget, but an amendment proposed by Colorado Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet would give a flood of cash to El Paso County water districts battling contamination in the Widefield aquifer.
Bennet’s amendment would provide as much as $9 million to reimburse water utilities in Security, Widefield and Fountain for what they laid out in 2016 after learning their drinking water contained unsafe levels of perfluorinated chemicals from toxic firefighting foam released by Peterson Air Force Base.
Districts’ officials assumed the Air Force would pay to fight the contamination and were shocked when the military refused to pay the bill.
That’s where Bennet’s amendment comes in.
Heald said the senators have worked for months to figure out a fix for the utilities’ financial woes.
"They have both been here to talk to us directly about these issues," he said.
But Heald isn’t counting the federal cash just yet.
But then he will have to fight with House lawmakers who signed off on their version of the defense bill, which doesn’t contain the water money.
At least $47 million has been spent by local water districts or allocated by the military for southern El Paso County since 2016, including at least $38 million spent or budgeted by the Air Force to investigate the contamination, buy filters, procure clean water and erect long-term treatment plants over the next several years.
– Contact Tom Roeder: 626-0240