News Releases - 2000

Construction at Western Lion Landfill Highlights Illinois FIRST Work

Springfield, Ill. -- Repair work is underway on the cap for the abandoned Western Lion and Service Disposal #1 Landfills in Coles County. This project is being funded by Governor George H. Ryan's Illinois FIRST program.

The project is among 33 landfill sites in 21 Illinois counties that were determined by Illinois EPA to be the state's worst landfills and in need of immediate attention. The landfills were evaluated to determine the most serious environmental threats; Western Lion and Service Disposal #1 Landfills were 3rd and 4th on the list of priority sites for cleanup. The legislature appropriated the Illinois FIRST funds in June 1999, which allowed these and other landfill cleanups to proceed.

In 1994, Illinois EPA inspectors discovered a trench near the north end of Western Lion Landfill, crosscutting a number of completed trenches and exhuming waste. In June 1997, Illinois EPA discovered that an exposed trench at Western Lion had filled with 35 to 40 feet of leachate, which is rainwater that has traveled through the landfill and been contaminated by waste. The leachate pit occasionally overflowed its banks and flowed into nearby Riley Creek, a Class A stream. Garbage falling from the truncated older trenches floated on the surface.

The goal is to implement remedies that limit risk to human health and the environment, minimize long-term maintenance, mitigate leachate to nearby surface and groundwater and effectively manage stormwater drainage.

The surfaces of both landfills are being reshaped to improve the slopes for drainage. A new cap will be installed to replace the old caps of loose gravel and sparse vegetation. A fence will be installed around the entire site upon completion of the new cap, and the topsoil will be seeded with prairie plants and grasses. Work on these landfills is representative of work to be done on the remaining sites in critical need of repair.

The Illinois EPA recommends no public uses of the landfill after it is capped. Human activity at the site could cause the cap to erode. This could allow water to enter the landfill and produce more leachate, which could pollute Riley Creek. Potentially dangerous methane gases will also be released from vents and flares at the site for some time.

The cap work and seeding the topsoil with prairie plants and grasses will be completed in spring 2001. The total cost of the cap is estimated at $4 million.