Environmental Progress - Summer 1997

1042 Drums of Hazardous Waste Removed from Warehouse

Determined investigation, tough negotiations help taxpayers avoid costly removal.

In August 1996, the Illinois EPA received a complaint that hazardous waste was being illegally stored outside a Grundy County warehouse, in northeastern Illinois.. Warren Weritz, an inspector from the Maywood regional officer, found hundreds of drums stored on the ground and in trailers. Eventually, 1,042 drums were inventoried.

Drums of hazardous waste found illegally stored at a Grundy County warehouse stand in rows after being inventoried prior to eventual removal by responsible parties. The waste was inside the warehouse and several trailers.

Violation notice proceedings disclosed the company was bankrupt. It seemed likely the state would have to absorb the cost of removal.

In the ensuing months, inspectors in Maywood identified additional potentially responsible parties. During the bankruptcy proceedings, the facility had been auctioned and acquired by Liquid Triad R-1, LLC, which in turn leased the property to United Consolidations Inc. It was learned that 493 drums of hazardous waste had been generated prior to the bankruptcy, 268 drums were generated by the debtor in possession during those proceedings, and the final 281 drums had been generated after the facility was auctioned.

The Illinois EPA consequently targeted its enforcement activities against several parties, including the current property owner, the lessee, and a bankruptcy trustee.

Each of the parties initially denied responsibility, while the Agency continued to focus on the significant environmental threat posed by the drums, and the need to have them removed properly. United Consolidations Inc. filed a motion in the bankruptcy proceeding seeking a temporary restraining order to bar the Agency from taken escalated enforcement action. With the assistance of the Office of the Attorney General, representing the Agency, the legal maneuver was deflected.

Clifford Gould, Maywood regional manager said, "We recognized that the drums needed to be removed and properly disposed of, but were not willing for this cost to be passed on to the taxpayers. Responsible parties at illegal hazardous waste storage sites should take responsibility for their actions."

During a meeting at the regional office, as part of the effort to convince all the parties of the need to remove the drums, the Illinois EPA's required technical remedy was spelled out. Subsequently, in a major step toward resolution of the environmental threat, United Consolidations Inc. accepted responsibility for 281 drums, which were removed in January 1997.

Following that breakthrough, a coordinated effort was made to remove the remaining drums. The final 761 drums of waste were removed in April 1997, with the Maywood office providing oversight of the operation.

"I think we were eventually able to convey to the parties that it was in their best interests to remove the drums," said Weritz. "Each of the parties realized its potential liability and had an economic incentive to remove the hazardous waste."