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Sunday, September 05, 2004

Environment - Recent Indiana stories

"Superfund cleanup almost complete" is the headline to this story in the Munster Times on the project at Amercian Chemical Service in Griffith.

"IDEM, EPA join hands over lakefront plan: The agencies agree not to dispute each other's decisions" is the headline to this story, also from the Times, that begins: "HAMMOND -- State and federal officials have joined forces with each other as well as the Quality of Life Council to help advance the Marquette Greenway plan, which aims to reclaim the lakeshore for the public."

The Johnson County JournalNet.com reports, in a story headlined "Company changes its plans to delight of neighbors":

A gasoline pipeline company has withdrawn plans to build a pump station in a Needham Township neighborhood but still is searching for potential locations within a mile of the original site. Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Co., referred to as TEPPCO, is scouting the area east of Interstate 65 near Upper Shelbyville Road for possible sites for a new gasoline pump station. The Houston-based company wants to build an electric-driven pump, above-ground piping, a small electric substation and a maintenance and safety flare.
"Town manager resigns following mercury spill" is the headline to this AP story:
CARTHAGE, Ind. The town manager in Carthage has quit amid criticism by residents who wanted to know why a mercury spill in the town pump house was not immediately reported to the state environmental agency. Carthage Town Works Manager Larry Back resigned yesterday during a specially called Town Council meeting.

Town officials notified the Indiana Department of Environmental Management on Tuesday that mercury had apparently leaked sometime last Friday from a vial labeled "virgin mercury" that was in the pump house for the town about 40 miles east of Indianapolis. Town officials hired a private firm to handle the cleanup, which already has cost six-thousand dollars.

The Gary Post Tribune reports:
CROWN POINT — A Lake County board is thinking of suing the state’s environmental agency for not stopping pollution at a Lowell-area landfill.

The county’s Solid Waste Management District board voted Thursday to discuss the lawsuit possibility in a future closed-door meeting before filing anything.

County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, the board’s chairman, and West Creek Township Trustee Rick Niemeyer said the state let down residents near the former Feddeler landfill.

They said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management failed to stop unauthorized dumping at the now-closed landfill, which was authorized only to accept construction and demolition debris, and then didn’t make sure its owners set enough money aside to close the landfill properly.

Another story, from the Munster Times, reports:
WEST CREEK TOWNSHIP -- While groundwater is considered safe near a defunct landfill site west of Lowell, the Lake County Solid Waste Management District wants to clean up the parcel as a preventive measure and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management is moving to achieve that goal.

The Feddeler (R&M Enterprises) CD Landfill, a construction and demolition landfill, has been cited by the department for numerous violations in the past, and residents have complained of contamination oozing from the ground.

The landfill closed several years ago and R&M, owned by Robert Feddeler, declared bankruptcy, officials said.

The landfill was never properly closed, said Bruce Palin, deputy assistant commissioner, IDEM Office of Land Quality.

The Munster Times also reports that:
HAMMOND -- City officials are preparing their case against a chemical treatment facility that reportedly fouled the air across a large section of north Hammond and landed the city's environmental director in the hospital last month.

Hammond Environmental Director Ron Novak, joined this week by Assistant City Attorney Alan Faulkner, Zoning Administrator Don Novak, Fire Chief Dave Hamm, City Councilman Mark Kalwinski, D-1st, and Chief of Staff Marty Weiglos, said they plan to use every resource at their disposal to ensure that ProLiquids, 3 141st St., complies with all local, state and federal environmental laws.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 5, 2004 01:38 PM
Posted to Environmental Issues