CARE encourages the public to attend Public Hearing On Coal Ash Dumping At Joliet Quarry

FILE – Coal ash swirls on the surface of the Dan River following one of the worst coal-ash spills in U.S. history into the river in Danville, Va., Feb. 5, 2014. The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to strengthen a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposed rule announced Wednesday, May 17, 2023, would require safe management of so-called coal ash dumped in areas that currently are unregulated at the federal level. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public hearing in Joliet to discuss the coal ash dump at the Lincoln Stone Quarry on Brandon Road in Joliet.

The hearing will be Wednesday, July 31st at 6 p.m. at the Weitendorf Agricultural Education Center, 17840 W Laraway Road. More details are in the hearing notice and the Illinois EPA’s fact sheet.

Coal ash from the Joliet 9 and Joliet 29 power plants has been dumped in the unlined, leaking Lincoln Stone Quarry since 1962. Millions of tons of coal ash sit as much as 60-70 feet deep in groundwater. A report shows that the coal ash is leaching toxic contaminants, including arsenic, lithium, molybdenum, and more, into that water.

The local organization Citizens Against Ruining the Environment ~ CARE –released the following statement about the upcoming hearing:

“CARE encourages the public to attend the Public Hearing and request the IEPA to deny the permit as it doesn’t contain adequate groundwater monitoring near Lincoln Stone Quarry. We all have the right to demand clean, safe water, but this permit does not protect the public’s water by sampling water in a variety of ways.

Furthermore, the operator of the quarry only wants to put aside money to “cap” Lincoln Stone Quarry which would allow contaminants to continue leaching into groundwater. A bond must be created that would pay for complete remediation of this toxic contamination. It must be dredged to bedrock and disposed of in a proper hazardous landfill – which is what this is.”