Western Lion Landfill / Services Disposal #1

Western Lion and Service Disposal #1 Landfill Sites

Fact Sheet #2
May 2000

Charleston, Illinois

Background

After a history of environmental violations at the Western Lion and Service Disposal #1 Landfill sites, the Illinois EPA learned in May 1994 that the owner/operator of the site had begun excavating a trench in an area of buried waste without a permit. A temporary order from the Attorney General's Office required all operations to stop by January 20, 1996. During an inspection by Illinois EPA in June 1997, field personnel discovered that the open trench had filled with 35-40 feet of leachate (rainwater that has traveled through the landfill and contacted waste). This leachate pit occasionally overtopped its banks and flowed into the nearby Riley Creek, which is a Class "A" Stream.

The State of Illinois appropriated Illinois FIRST funds to correct the situation at the landfill, once the site owner declared bankruptcy. During the summer and fall of 1999, the State of Illinois contracted work to dewater the pit of leachate and fill it with construction debris and other clean fill material. More than two million gallons of leachate were hauled to Mattoon's publicly-owned wastewater treatment plant for treatment. The next step is to make corrections to the existing inadequate landfill cap on both sites.

What is the scope of the current work to be done at the site?

Bodine Environmental Services, the contractor for the State of Illinois, will install a new, protective clay cap on the landfill sites (a total of 66 acres). The work that the State of Illinois has contracted includes:

1. Reshaping the surface grade on the landfills to improve the slopes for proper drainage;
2. Installing a landfill cap consisting of two feet of com- pacted clay, two feet of uncompacted clay and six inches of top soil (seeded with various prairie plants);
3. Installing a fence around the entire site.

Under what authority is the State of Illinois contracting the work?

Section 300.430 (a)(iii)(B) of the National Contingency Plan (NCP) contains the expectation that engineering controls, such as containment, will be used for waste that poses a relatively low long-term threat or where removal or treatment is impractical. At municipal landfills, the up-front knowledge that the source area will be contained facilitates such early actions as installation of a landfill cap or a groundwater containment system as a remedy for leachate production that may contaminate groundwater.

How will this cap be protective?

Because the cap will cause rainwater to flow off the landfill rather than into the landfill, the production of leachate from the landfill should stop. Consequently, this is protective to both humans who enter the site (from contacting leachate material) and Riley Creek, a Class "A" stream that runs through the site. This is also consistent with the Illinois EPA Non-degradation Policy which grants special protection from new or increased loading of pollutants to Class "A" streams.

Class A Stream - This is a Biological Stream Characterization which indicates a "Unique Aquatic Resource" compar- able to the best situations without human disturbance.

What is the cap made of?

As stated in the first response, there will be a total of four feet of clay (half compacted, half not compacted) and six inches of topsoil. By installing the layers in a specific sequence and establishing a good ground-cover layer of prairie plants, the landfill will be able to shed water much more efficiently than with the loose gravel material and sparse vegetation that is currently in place.

When will the work begin?

The reshaping (pushing around existing soils and trash) will begin during June 2000, and will take approximately two weeks. Then begins the process of hauling dirt and compac- ting it to create the cap. The last step is to apply seed for ground cover.

How long will the work take?

The construction project should take 180 days. The Illinois EPA contractor expects to be finished with the cap and begin seeding the top soil with prairie plants by late fall 2000.

Will the general public be able to use the landfill once it has cover?

Illinois EPA recommends no public uses of the landfill. Activities such as three-wheeling, motor cycle riding and hiking could damage the cap, causing it to erode. Damage by human activity may allow more water to run through the landfill and produce leachate, which could continue to pollute Riley Creek. In addition, potentially dangerous methane gases will continue to emit from vents and flares for some time.

How much will the corrective action cost the state?

The cost of dewatering the leachate pit last year amounted to $350,000. The total cost of the final cap is estimated to be $3.5 million, in addition to the previous work.

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