News Releases - 2002

Work Completed on Coles County Landfills

Springfield, Ill. -- The Illinois EPA has completed construction of the protective clay caps and seeded them with a mixture of grasses at the Western Lion and Service Disposal Landfills, located between Charleston and Mattoon.

"With these actions, the state has succeeded in stabilizing the sites to prevent further degradation that would have allowed landfill wastes and contamination to threaten the environment, said Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano". The work was conducted with funding from Governor George H. Ryan's Illinois FIRST program, which allowed the Illinois EPA to deal with 33 abandoned landfills that were the most serious environmental concerns in the state. Western Lion and Service Disposal were both on this list of landfills that presented serious environmental concerns.

The history of this site includes discovery in 1999 of an illegal open trench filled with contaminated water, or leachate that routinely overflowed into nearby Riley Creek, Riley Creek is a Class A Stream considered a "unique aquatic resource" in the state.

During the summer and fall of 1999, the Illinois EPA dewatered the pit of leachate and filled it with clean material. More than two million gallons of leachate were hauled to Mattoon's publicly owned wastewater treatment plant for processing. During 2000 and 2001, Illinois EPA performed construction work at the landfills to stabilize them and prevent further degradation that otherwise would have allowed landfill wastes and contamination to threaten the environment.

In 2002, the construction was completed with the topsoil and it was seeded. The project made use of approximately 400,000 cubic yards of clay from local sources. A fence was then installed around the entire site to prevent trespassing that could damage the cap and lead to more environmental damage.

Coles County has agreed to assist the state with monitoring the landfills to ensure the integrity of the cap and fence and to prevent dumping and trespassing. The Illinois EPA has posted signs at the site explaining that the County Sheriff plans to arrest trespassers and the County States Attorney has agreed to prosecute them. The total cost for all site work contracted by the state of Illinois for the two landfills is approximately $4 million.

The local Embarras Volunteer Stewards planted a corridor of native trees along the creek bank to protect the stream. The Illinois EPA has committed to at least two additional years of oversight and will monitor the cap for evidence of erosion, maintain the vegetative cover, make necessary repairs, maintain the fence and warning signs, and perform prescribed burns on the prairie grass.

"The cooperation of local officials and volunteers is critical in maintaining the cap. This will ensure that the vegetation on the cap becomes firmly established, so that we can avoid future erosion problems," said Director Cipriano.

Although the site is still private property, certain uses not related to the landfill permit could result in legal action since the landfill is not properly closed. Also, public or private activities such as three-wheeling, motorcycle riding and hiking would damage the cap, causing it to erode. Such damage could allow more water to run through the landfill and produce leachate that would cause pollution once again in Riley Creek. In addition, potentially dangerous methane gases will continue to emit from vents and flares for several years.

NOTE: The Illinois EPA is hosting local officials on a tour of Western Lion and Service Disposal landfills on Thursday, weather permitting.