Post by d204mom on Mar 15, 2008 23:32:12 GMT -6
Environmental lawyer says Metea site unsafe
But District 204 officials maintain risk is slight
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 3/16/2008 12:04 AM
Even as Indian Prairie Unit District 204 moves toward breaking ground on the new Metea Valley High School site as soon as April 1, an environmental lawyer is vowing to stand in the way.
Attorney Shawn Collins released a six-page position paper Saturday outlining his environmental concerns about a proposed site along Eola Road. The document refutes claims made by environmental experts hired by the district.
Collins is representing a grassroots organization, Neighborhood Schools for our Children, in a lawsuit filed this month in DuPage County. The suit is asking the court to force District 204 to buy the originally intended Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive, in part, because of the environmental concerns at other possible sites, including the Eola location.
"Buying an environmentally suspect site with $140 million of taxpayer money is wrong and should be prohibited," Collins said Saturday.
Collins' paper lists the three environmental issues that he claims make the 87-acre site along Eola, south of Diehl Road near Aurora, unfit for a school of any size.
Former power plant
For nearly four decades, a "peaker" power plant operated at the northeast corner of the Eola site.
The facility, which has been idle for more than a year, last was used by Midwest Generation to produce electricity "on the rare occasion when demand surpassed the local supply."
Collins said operation permits that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued to Midwest Generation identified the plant as a "minor source for hazardous air pollutants."
Both Midwest Generation and District 204 have agreed that any land sale would be contingent on approval from the IEPA.
Midwest Generation has paid for two environmental studies of the property.
The study explored the history of the site and how it was used by previous owners. The second study used soil borings and ground water samples to search for the presence of diesel fuel, antifreeze or other chemicals commonly used at the site.
District officials have confirmed that six of the 55 borings drilled have come back with traces of diesel fuel. But school board President Mark Metzger has maintained those contaminants are "easily found and remediated."
Last week, district officials were expected to release results of the soil testing. But they declined, saying Midwest Generation hadn't yet given them permission to release the information.
That irks Collins, who maintains not enough testing has been done on the site.
"Like everyone else, I wonder, 'What's the big secret? Why are you (the district) thumping your chest and promising these reports and then pulling them back?' " Collins said. "I am very confident that whatever environmental testing they did there was not enough."
Collins said he's also concerned about who would be liable for any future cleanup or injuries caused by the alleged contamination.
Midwest Generation spokesman Charley Parnell said he was upset by the "knee-jerk reaction and lack of understanding" about what was done at the plant.
"The plant was run mostly on natural gas, which based on cost alone, made the plant inefficient," Parnell said Saturday. "For that very reason the plant only ran for a handful of hours throughout the year when the system needed a boost or a rest."
Parnell said the company still is analyzing the study's findings but doesn't anticipate there will be any environmental issues found. If there are any issues, he said, the site would be remediated "before any child steps on the site."
"This was a peaking power generation site highly regulated by IEPA, and the EPA would not allow us to contaminate," he said. "That would be highly irresponsible, and we don't do business that way. So it would be extremely disingenuous for anyone to be attacking Midwest Generation."
He said the company is still in talks with the district on how any remediation would be handled, but a confidentiality agreement prevented him from disclosing more.
Power lines
In his position paper, Collins refers to the school district's 2005 "site selection" report that indicated "probable to certain exposure of students to electromagnetic radiation" from nearby high-powered electrical transmission lines disqualified the site from consideration.
On Monday, however, Gary Crawford of ENVIRON International Corp., told school board members that the electromagnetic field ratings on the property were "on the average, similar to very common background levels encountered in everyday life."
"I don't see anything to worry about. Period," Crawford said of the power lines 220 feet east of the site's boundary. "We see no concerns or risks from those electromagnetic fields."
Collins said he refuses to accept that and hopes the district will as well.
"I totally reject the argument that because a child may be exposed to something in the home that it is, therefore, OK to expose that child to something harmful in a school," Collins said. "Even if a child lives in a home under a power line, that doesn't mean it's OK for the child also to go to school in a building that sits under a power line."
Despite Crawford's guarantee, Collins points to several pieces of scientific and medical literature that cite an association between childhood leukemia and children who live within 300 meters (984 feet) of a power line.
"The comparisons being made by the district's experts are irresponsible because you don't use a hair dryer or stand in front of a microwave for eight to 10 hours a day, 200 days a year like these students and teachers would," Collins said.
Gas pipelines
Kinder Morgan, a subsidiary of the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC, owns three natural gas pipelines that run within the site's boundaries, near an area the district maintains would be fenced off and used for maintenance and storage.
Dee Bennett, operations manager for the company, told district officials that Natural Gas Pipeline maintains internal monitoring of all its facilities, in addition to regulations imposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Collins, however, cites California law that "prohibits the acquisition of a school site … if the site contains a pipeline that is not supplying gas to the school."
"That alone tells me that no school should be built here," Collins said. "It's great that they follow the federal laws, but I have yet to hear how or why these pipelines are less of a threat than any other natural gas pipelines."
Now what?
Collins said he expects to add additional complaints to his lawsuit in the coming weeks and hopes his case can be heard.
He doesn't think it will take long for a judge to block the sale of the Eola Road site.
"What is so shocking here is the rush to judgment that goes on here. Why, with these important environmental issues unresolved, is the district hurdling toward closing on this property and signing onto all of this risk?" he asked. "It makes no sense."
District attorney Rick Petesch was unavailable on Friday and Saturday.
District 204 intends to hire another law firm to assist Petesch in defending the district against Collins' suit. But the firm hasn't yet been hired.
But District 204 officials maintain risk is slight
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 3/16/2008 12:04 AM
Even as Indian Prairie Unit District 204 moves toward breaking ground on the new Metea Valley High School site as soon as April 1, an environmental lawyer is vowing to stand in the way.
Attorney Shawn Collins released a six-page position paper Saturday outlining his environmental concerns about a proposed site along Eola Road. The document refutes claims made by environmental experts hired by the district.
Collins is representing a grassroots organization, Neighborhood Schools for our Children, in a lawsuit filed this month in DuPage County. The suit is asking the court to force District 204 to buy the originally intended Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive, in part, because of the environmental concerns at other possible sites, including the Eola location.
"Buying an environmentally suspect site with $140 million of taxpayer money is wrong and should be prohibited," Collins said Saturday.
Collins' paper lists the three environmental issues that he claims make the 87-acre site along Eola, south of Diehl Road near Aurora, unfit for a school of any size.
Former power plant
For nearly four decades, a "peaker" power plant operated at the northeast corner of the Eola site.
The facility, which has been idle for more than a year, last was used by Midwest Generation to produce electricity "on the rare occasion when demand surpassed the local supply."
Collins said operation permits that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued to Midwest Generation identified the plant as a "minor source for hazardous air pollutants."
Both Midwest Generation and District 204 have agreed that any land sale would be contingent on approval from the IEPA.
Midwest Generation has paid for two environmental studies of the property.
The study explored the history of the site and how it was used by previous owners. The second study used soil borings and ground water samples to search for the presence of diesel fuel, antifreeze or other chemicals commonly used at the site.
District officials have confirmed that six of the 55 borings drilled have come back with traces of diesel fuel. But school board President Mark Metzger has maintained those contaminants are "easily found and remediated."
Last week, district officials were expected to release results of the soil testing. But they declined, saying Midwest Generation hadn't yet given them permission to release the information.
That irks Collins, who maintains not enough testing has been done on the site.
"Like everyone else, I wonder, 'What's the big secret? Why are you (the district) thumping your chest and promising these reports and then pulling them back?' " Collins said. "I am very confident that whatever environmental testing they did there was not enough."
Collins said he's also concerned about who would be liable for any future cleanup or injuries caused by the alleged contamination.
Midwest Generation spokesman Charley Parnell said he was upset by the "knee-jerk reaction and lack of understanding" about what was done at the plant.
"The plant was run mostly on natural gas, which based on cost alone, made the plant inefficient," Parnell said Saturday. "For that very reason the plant only ran for a handful of hours throughout the year when the system needed a boost or a rest."
Parnell said the company still is analyzing the study's findings but doesn't anticipate there will be any environmental issues found. If there are any issues, he said, the site would be remediated "before any child steps on the site."
"This was a peaking power generation site highly regulated by IEPA, and the EPA would not allow us to contaminate," he said. "That would be highly irresponsible, and we don't do business that way. So it would be extremely disingenuous for anyone to be attacking Midwest Generation."
He said the company is still in talks with the district on how any remediation would be handled, but a confidentiality agreement prevented him from disclosing more.
Power lines
In his position paper, Collins refers to the school district's 2005 "site selection" report that indicated "probable to certain exposure of students to electromagnetic radiation" from nearby high-powered electrical transmission lines disqualified the site from consideration.
On Monday, however, Gary Crawford of ENVIRON International Corp., told school board members that the electromagnetic field ratings on the property were "on the average, similar to very common background levels encountered in everyday life."
"I don't see anything to worry about. Period," Crawford said of the power lines 220 feet east of the site's boundary. "We see no concerns or risks from those electromagnetic fields."
Collins said he refuses to accept that and hopes the district will as well.
"I totally reject the argument that because a child may be exposed to something in the home that it is, therefore, OK to expose that child to something harmful in a school," Collins said. "Even if a child lives in a home under a power line, that doesn't mean it's OK for the child also to go to school in a building that sits under a power line."
Despite Crawford's guarantee, Collins points to several pieces of scientific and medical literature that cite an association between childhood leukemia and children who live within 300 meters (984 feet) of a power line.
"The comparisons being made by the district's experts are irresponsible because you don't use a hair dryer or stand in front of a microwave for eight to 10 hours a day, 200 days a year like these students and teachers would," Collins said.
Gas pipelines
Kinder Morgan, a subsidiary of the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC, owns three natural gas pipelines that run within the site's boundaries, near an area the district maintains would be fenced off and used for maintenance and storage.
Dee Bennett, operations manager for the company, told district officials that Natural Gas Pipeline maintains internal monitoring of all its facilities, in addition to regulations imposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Collins, however, cites California law that "prohibits the acquisition of a school site … if the site contains a pipeline that is not supplying gas to the school."
"That alone tells me that no school should be built here," Collins said. "It's great that they follow the federal laws, but I have yet to hear how or why these pipelines are less of a threat than any other natural gas pipelines."
Now what?
Collins said he expects to add additional complaints to his lawsuit in the coming weeks and hopes his case can be heard.
He doesn't think it will take long for a judge to block the sale of the Eola Road site.
"What is so shocking here is the rush to judgment that goes on here. Why, with these important environmental issues unresolved, is the district hurdling toward closing on this property and signing onto all of this risk?" he asked. "It makes no sense."
District attorney Rick Petesch was unavailable on Friday and Saturday.
District 204 intends to hire another law firm to assist Petesch in defending the district against Collins' suit. But the firm hasn't yet been hired.
