Ameren Corp. officially announced at an open house Wednesday that the company will remove hazardous material from a site located at the intersection of Fifth and Hill streets in Champaign.

The site, which was the previous location of a manufactured gas plant, will be excavated, and soil will be removed from the site and taken to a landfill. Water entering the excavation will also be treated.

Many residents of the neighborhood met before the open house to discuss their issues with the cleanup and Ameren’s communication with them. Residents held signs reading “IL EPA and Ameren: Tell us the truth,” “Our children deserve a healthy neighborhood,” and “We’re against toxicity and secrecy.”

Claudia Lenhoff, executive director of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, said that many residents of the neighborhood are not as concerned with the actual soil present at the site as they are with groundwater, which contains benzyne at “highly, highly toxic levels.”

“The groundwater is far more contaminated than we’ve been led to believe,” said Lenhoff. “Ameren has told the public that they are doing the cleanup. What they are not telling the public is that they are not planning on cleaning up contaminated groundwater on or off the site.”

Some residents expressed concern that the contaminated water entered their basements, especially during frequent flooding.

“My basement floods every time we have rain or snow. They tested my water, and it had chemicals in it,” said Alvia Dyson , resident of the neighborhood. “I stepped in the water and I got a rash all over my body.”

Members of Ameren and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said that the contaminated groundwater was not moving in a way that would bring it into basements or the nearby Boneyard Creek.

“When they’re seeing flooding, they’re seeing surface water, not water from down below the ground,” said Stan Black, Illinois EPA community relations coordinator.

Ameren and Illinois EPA members also said that the water was not in danger of entering the creek because the contaminant area is stable and is not expanding outward from the site.

“Basically, the only way (the contaminated groundwater) could get into the Boneyard (Creek) would be if it got into the storm sewers,” said Stuart Cravens, senior hydrogeologist at Kelron Environmental. “There’s never been any evidence that it’s done that.”

Residents also expressed concern that the vapors from the water and the materials from the site could be hazardous for people living in the vicinity.

“I know that Ameren completed some soil and gas sampling and there was very little found. They said that there’s no vapors coming out of basements of homes that should be of any concern,” said Gregory Dunn, manager of the voluntary site remediation unit of the Illinois EPA.

Many residents addressed members of Ameren and the Illinois EPA and said they had been frustrated because they felt that they were not communicated with. Dunn offered to do further testing for those residents who were concerned about the presence of contamination in their basements.

“Knowing what you know, and not what you’re telling us, would you live in my neighborhood for a year? For two years?” asked Magnolia Cook, neighborhood resident for more than 50 years. “I don’t believe it.”