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Community Corner

Radioactive Thorium Among Contaminants at West Chicago Cleanup Site

A public informational meeting has been tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, to review this application for a $200,000 Brownfield Cleanup Grant to develop the site for a future town square.

The city of West Chicago is asking for public feedback on its request for a $200,000 EPA environmental cleanup project to remove hazardous waste — including "radioactive contaminants related to thorium mill tailings" — so that it can develop an 8.5-acre site near West Washington Street into a town square.

The draft for an EPA grant application is attached to this article. It is also available at www.westchicago.org, and will be available for review and comment until Jan. 14, 2014.  Hard copies of the draft application are also available at West Chicago City Hall (Department of Community Development), 475 Main St., and at the West Chicago Public Library, 118 W. Washington St. 

The city expects to complete necessary cleanup "as part of the redevelopment process for this large, visible and important area of the downtown," the city said in a Christmas Eve press release.

Long term plans include a new municipal facility consisting of a city hall, a new "town square" or "village green" outdoor space, residential development, commercial/retail development and new parking.

The site is located north of West Washington Street and west of Fremont Street. 

Kerr-McGee Chemical LLC was one of the recent tenants for the site whose history as a transportation and industrial tract goes back to the 1850s.

In 2012 and 2013, Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) identified "contaminants above the industrial/commercial soil and groundwater exposure pathways" that need to be cleaned up before redevelopment can occur. 

"These contaminants include heavy metals, semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and radioactive contaminants related to thorium mill tailings," the city said.

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"Other contaminants include two highly-radioactive orphaned radium sources and some surrounding soils identified in late 2012 during a gamma radiation walkover survey (part of the Phase II ESA) at the former scrap yard that were handled and disposed offsite by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA)."

The orphaned sources are thought to be the result of site operations at the former scrap yard.

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The city of West Chicago is submitting its application to the USEPA for a $200,000 Brownfields Cleanup Grant for hazardous substances, which will be used to clean up the area now named the West Washington Street Redevelopment Project.  

A public informational meeting has been tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, to review this application. A separate announcement will be provided concerning that meeting.

Comments on the draft EPA environmental cleanup application can be submitted via email to: communitydev@westchicago.org or in writing to John D. Said, AICP Director, Dept. of Community Development, City of West Chicago, 475 Main St. West Chicago, Illinois 60185.

SOURCE: city of West Chicago

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