The owners of Clinton Landfill, Inc. have filed an appeal against the decision to keep polychlorinated biphenyl, PCB, waste out of its site. The landfill is located directly above the Mahomet Aquifer, which supplies water to about 750,000 East Central Illinois residents. 

In July, Gov. Pat Quinn directed the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, IEPA, to take immediate action against allowing PCB waste to enter the landfill. Clinton Landfill is now appealing the limitation with the Illinois Pollution Control Board, IPCB.

“On Aug. 28, the board received appeal of IEPA’s decision to modify the permit of Clinton Landfill,” said Connie Newman, spokesperson for the Illinois Pollution Control Board. “The board will be deciding whether or not to accept appeal at tomorrow’s board meeting.”

If the board accepts to hear the appeal, the petitioners and IEPA will submit the documents IEPA used to make its decision and a public trial will follow.

The board will also have 120 days, or until Dec. 26, to reach their decision. They can uphold the permit changes, reject them or modify them, according to Newman.

The chemical waste landfill is located above the Mahomet Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to 14 counties, including Champaign County.

“There’s a unique geological situation with the aquifer where there are sandbars, clay and different things,” said Champaign Mayor Don Gerard. “You quite simply cannot map and detect how these things seep in and how these things get in there.”

The decision to disallow PCBs from entering the landfill came in July, after the DeWitt County Board submitted a letter to IEPA stating they “did not authorize the disposal of TSCA-regulated PCBs in its Sept. 12, 2002 siting approval,” according to a press release.

Illinois law allows IEPA to modify a permit upon discovery that a decision was made using false or misleading information.

Angelica can be reached at [email protected].