Post by WeBe204 on Apr 8, 2008 22:59:36 GMT -6
Critics say more soil could be contaminated by shuttered power plant
By Alexa Aguilar | Tribune reporter
April 9, 2008
Indian Prairie School District 204 officials are standing by the new site they chose for a new high school, saying reports released this week prove the area will be safe for students and they have no plans to delay construction.
In the months since the school board decided to buy the Aurora site on Eola Road just south of Diehl Road, an 87-acre parcel that includes a former peaker power plant, a group of citizens has protested the site as environmentally unsafe for the thousands of students slated to attend Metea Valley High School.
The district aims to have the school built by August 2009 and still hopes to close on the property this spring, said Board President Mark Metzger.
The group, Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, filed suit in DuPage County in March seeking to halt construction at that site, which is estimated to cost $16.5 million. The group is angered by the district's decision to switch gears and build Metea Valley on Eola Road instead of the Brach-Brodie site, deemed too expensive by the district, at the southwest corner of 75th Street and Illinois Highway 59.
Members have since raised concerns about the site's safety and its nearness to pipelines and high-voltage power lines.
At a special school board meeting Monday night, representatives from Testing Service Corp., the company hired by the district to conduct environmental testing, told the school board that it located five contaminated soil samples—four with diesel fuel and one with PCB contaminants.
The company took 90 soil samples and installed six groundwater monitoring wells after it was determined that the plant had had several fuel spills over the years.
The contaminated samples were found in the 15 acres where Midwest Generation operated the plant.
Because the district is planning to use those acres for storage, storm-water retention and tennis courts, the district has time to conduct any necessary cleanup, while allowing the school construction to go forward, Metzger said. He also said the firm reported that the contaminated soil is harmful only if eaten.
The district also will enroll the property in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's site remediation program, Metzger said.
Shawn Collins, the Naperville attorney for the group fighting the site, said the report shows that more testing must be conducted.
Instead of testing only the 15 acres where the plant was located, the district also should test the other 72 acres that make up the Eola Road site, he said.
"There is nothing to say that this is confined to 15 of the 87 acres," Collins said. "This only reinforces our conclusion that this site is not fit for our school."
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-school_soil_bothapr09,1,5290421.story
By Alexa Aguilar | Tribune reporter
April 9, 2008
Indian Prairie School District 204 officials are standing by the new site they chose for a new high school, saying reports released this week prove the area will be safe for students and they have no plans to delay construction.
In the months since the school board decided to buy the Aurora site on Eola Road just south of Diehl Road, an 87-acre parcel that includes a former peaker power plant, a group of citizens has protested the site as environmentally unsafe for the thousands of students slated to attend Metea Valley High School.
The district aims to have the school built by August 2009 and still hopes to close on the property this spring, said Board President Mark Metzger.
The group, Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, filed suit in DuPage County in March seeking to halt construction at that site, which is estimated to cost $16.5 million. The group is angered by the district's decision to switch gears and build Metea Valley on Eola Road instead of the Brach-Brodie site, deemed too expensive by the district, at the southwest corner of 75th Street and Illinois Highway 59.
Members have since raised concerns about the site's safety and its nearness to pipelines and high-voltage power lines.
At a special school board meeting Monday night, representatives from Testing Service Corp., the company hired by the district to conduct environmental testing, told the school board that it located five contaminated soil samples—four with diesel fuel and one with PCB contaminants.
The company took 90 soil samples and installed six groundwater monitoring wells after it was determined that the plant had had several fuel spills over the years.
The contaminated samples were found in the 15 acres where Midwest Generation operated the plant.
Because the district is planning to use those acres for storage, storm-water retention and tennis courts, the district has time to conduct any necessary cleanup, while allowing the school construction to go forward, Metzger said. He also said the firm reported that the contaminated soil is harmful only if eaten.
The district also will enroll the property in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's site remediation program, Metzger said.
Shawn Collins, the Naperville attorney for the group fighting the site, said the report shows that more testing must be conducted.
Instead of testing only the 15 acres where the plant was located, the district also should test the other 72 acres that make up the Eola Road site, he said.
"There is nothing to say that this is confined to 15 of the 87 acres," Collins said. "This only reinforces our conclusion that this site is not fit for our school."
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-school_soil_bothapr09,1,5290421.story
