Illinois EPA takes ‘toxic tour’ through these contaminated metro-east sites
Local residents and activists took three top officials from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on a so-called “toxic tour” of the metro-east on Friday.
The goal was to show them what life is like in the communities confronting sewage-contaminated floodwaters, as well as foul emissions from a hazardous waste incinerator.
Among the attendees were Illinois EPA Director James Jennings, Deputy Director of Environmental Policy Amanda Raddatz and Environmental Justice Coordinator Chris Pressnall.
Residents and representatives of local environmental activist groups added context to the tour’s stops through East St. Louis, Cahokia Heights, Washington Park and Sauget. The event was organized by United Congregations of Metro-East.
These were the stops on the route and what they wanted the Illinois EPA leaders to know about each of them:
Sewage and flooding
Terrace Drive, East St. Louis; Piat Place, Cahokia Heights; Frank Holten State Park
The bus drove through neighborhoods with boarded-up and abandoned homes, including on Terrace Drive in East St. Louis.
Cahokia Heights resident Yvette Lyles, 67, said those homes have been hit hard by repeated flooding over the years, just like her home on Piat Place. She pointed it out in the distance as the bus later passed Frank Holten State Park.
“Some people will go in and try to redo their homes, but how many times can you do this?” Lyles said. “As you can see, most of these homes are abandoned. They got tired. You can’t keep doing it.”
When it floods in both East St. Louis and Cahokia Heights, sewage can spill from city pipes. During heavy rain, sewage also flows into the lake at Frank Holten State Park that residents once used for fishing and boating.
Jalen Williams, of the group Parents United for Change, said ditches that are supposed to take stormwater away often remain uncleared because of a lack of maintenance. He pointed to pooling water left on the ground from rain a day earlier along the route through East St. Louis, Washington Park and Cahokia Heights.
Lyles added that a major 14-mile-long stormwater drainage canal known as Harding Ditch also hasn’t been maintained and needs dredging. Officials estimated it will cost $100 million.
The mayors of Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis organized a news conference three years ago pleading with state and federal governments for help.
At a fireside chat after the tour, a resident asked Jennings about the obstacles he expects to face when it comes to fixing the problems he witnessed Friday. He acknowledged funding is the biggest challenge.
“As you all are very aware, the needs are profound,” he said. “The worry that I would have is that there’s not the amount of money immediately available that we would need to be able to act as quickly as at least I would like.”
About 30 people attended the conversation, including East St. Louis City Manager Robert Betts.
During the event, Betts asked Jennings whether any Illinois EPA discretionary funds could help the city with these issues.
“Every time it rains, we have flooding problems, and we don’t have the resources to fix it,” Betts said.
Jennings said he would follow up about the possibility of funding.
In the meantime, sewage in homes, yards and streets is causing health concerns and distrust in the public drinking water system.
Some Cahokia Heights residents have found E. coli in their drinking water through community-organized testing of samples from kitchen taps.
The Illinois EPA has been working with the community testing team to obtain homeowners’ consent for the agency to also test the water inside residences that had positive results. A resident asked for an update on the status of that work at Friday’s fireside chat.
Jennings said they are still discussing the testing methodology.
“Our staff are ready to go. And we have a sampling plan ready; We’re hoping to have that finalized as soon as possible,” he said.
Air pollution
Falling Springs Road and 7 Mobile St., Sauget
When the bus missed a turn to the hazardous waste incinerator Veolia North America-Trade Waste Incineration in Sauget, the group made sure to turn around and drive the length of the facility’s large campus. They wanted the Illinois EPA leaders to smell the air.
The odor was like rotten eggs or sewage, some said.
East St. Louis resident Mamie Cosey, 85, said her great-grandchildren can’t play outside some days because of the air quality.
“I’m glad you all are here,” she told the agency officials, “but something has to be done in Sauget. We deserve better. Our kids deserve better.”
She has repeated the plea many times over the years at protests and in interviews. Still, she said, not much has changed.
Darnell Tingle, director of United Congregations of Metro-East, said emissions from Veolia and other industrial plants affect the larger region.
“It goes everywhere — both on the St. Louis side and this side,” he said.
At the fireside chat, Pressnall described how the experience of visiting and smelling the air in Sauget affected him.
“It’s almost immediately headache-inducing,” he said. “I have questions in my mind about what that is and what it means (from an) emissions standpoint. … It wasn’t a pleasant experience, and I cannot imagine, like we heard on the bus, dealing with that on a daily basis. It was powerful.”
Veolia’s Sauget site manager Lucas King has said in past statements that the facility is committed to following regulatory requirements and "protecting the health of the communities where we operate.”
The U.S. EPA regulates Veolia’s air emissions through permits, but Jennings said during the fireside chat that he plans to contact the federal agency about the issue.
“I know on my drive back, I’m planning to call my counterpart at the federal government and convey that we were just here and this is something that we observed,” Jennings said. “I look forward to seeing how that conversation turns out.
“We’re not walking away and saying ‘This isn’t us so, sorry,’” he added. “We have follow-up that we can do.”
United Congregations of Metro-East also asked the Illinois EPA for action, including:
- Create a metro-east community council for input into its enforcement and permitting decisions.
- Publicly report the status of Veolia’s permits and compliance record.
- Provide a remediation timeline for Cahokia Heights’ sewer crisis.
- Make health data more accessible and legible to affected communities.
Jennings described the organization’s requests as “entirely reasonable.”
“Looking forward to being able to help,” he said.
