Full board to have say on landfill expansion

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The full Grundy County Board, when it meets in July, will vote on a proposed update of the county’s solid waste management plan.

By a 5-0 vote Monday afternoon, the board’s Environmental Committee agreed to send the plan to the full board.

The proposed plan would allow for the possible future expansion of the Environtech landfill, along Ashley Road, by 80 acres. It would still prohibit the installation of a new landfill in Grundy County.

Because Environtech is within the Morris city limits, any expansion would have to be approved by the Morris City Council, following a siting hearing. The Grundy County Board would not vote on the expansion.

“I feel it should go to the full board. Five people should not make the decision,” Committee member Jackie McKinney said Monday afternoon, prior to the vote.

The committee had delayed its recommendation by a month, after determining in May that it would like a legal description of the area of the potential landfill expansion included in the plan.

About five people addressed the committee, bringing many of the same objections raised at last month’s meeting.

Frank Barber of Gun Club Road said tests on wells reveal things in the water like arsenic, selenium and manganese, which are common in coal mining areas.

However, metals like lead, thallium and antimony are also found, and they can come from landfills, he said.

Barber said two old wells within the Environtech landfill were not capped until 2006, while a third well could not be found. This was confirmed by a representative of Environtech.

“People around the landfill are not being protected,” he said.

Wells were tested in 2006, and the same contaminants were found in the water far from any landfill.

Jim Leonard of the Grundy County Health Department said tests on some wells were done in 2008, with samples provided by the property owners. The results were not the same as in 2006, he said. Leonard said he could provide the exact results at a future meeting.

A representative of Environtech said there are test wells around the landfill, which extend below the liner. These wells have never shown any contamination leaving the landfill. The wells were tested quarterly, but now are tested semi-annually.

Board member Jeremy Ly, who is not a member of the committee, voiced his opposition to the updated plan.

Committee members Richard Joyce, McKinney, Dick Steele, John Galloway and Greg Redford voted to send the plan to the full board.