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LaSalle City Council Meeting Full Audio 2-6-23 – Carus Chemical Fire

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

Chemical test results were revealed at the February 6 city hall meeting.

Hazardous levels of granular chemicals landed on LaSalle residents, homes, and yards during the explosion at Carus Chemical on January 11, 2023. Test results of the granular product came back at 27,600 mg/kg of manganese and 133,000 mg/kg of potassium.

Citizens who attended the meeting asked a lot of questions. One local resident brought her furnace filter to show how black it is from soot and particles that entered her home. Another had a deer in the back of his truck that was found dead in the neighborhood. After calling the police, who came, looked at the deer and left, Jamie Hicks collected the deer, put it in the back of his truck and brought it to the city council meeting. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is now in custody of the deer and will test it for chemical poisoning.

Local residents recently completed a 3 year remediation of the soil in their yards after being declared a superfund site. The contaminated soil was removed and replaced with clay. Residents worried that the clay soil they now have does not as easily absorb water or chemicals and their pets may drink from contaminated puddles that accumulate on top of the clay.

👇Updates: 👇

We are working with the Sierra Club and an independent lab to test furnace filters. Jamie Hicks is collecting filters and will send them in for testing.

☝️☝️

Brownfield Environmental Report Results – Carus Chemical Fire

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

Brownfield was hired by the City of LaSalle to conduct soil tests after the fire. However, they only tested for a few chemicals and did not test for heavy metals. The EPA rest results (posted above) show high levels of several metals and chemicals that were not tested for by the company hired by the City of LaSalle..

Environmental Summary Report 2-7-2023Download

    Resources

    Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

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    US EPA toxic release inventory explorer: https://enviro.epa.gov/triexplorer/tri_release.chemical

    US EPA – ECHO Enforcement and Compliance History Online https://echo.epa.gov/

    US OSHA establishment search: https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.html

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    From Farmland to Fracksand

    Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley
    Frac sand mine in Utica, Illinois, located on Route 6 near Starved Rock State Park. Photo by: Lisa Held

    In the Midwest, fertile soil is being excavated in pursuit of fossil fuels, while communities suffer.

    By: Lisa Held, Civil Eats

    One Monday in June, excavators were tearing into a field in Wedron, Illinois where the nubs of last season’s dried corn stalks were still sticking out of the ground. Behind where the crew worked, strips of earth had been carved out like steps on a wide staircase descending to the bottom of a deep pit. On the far side, fine sand the color of snow was piled in front of soaring, solid walls of sandstone. Picture standing on a ledge looking down into the biggest rock quarry you’ve ever seen. Then, enlarge that image 100 times, whitewash it, and add turquoise blue pools of wastewater. This is silica mining.

    Fracking, a process used to extract natural gas and petroleum, depends on silica sand, or “frac sand” to produce the fossil fuels. A single fracking site can use millions of pounds of sand. The sand is blasted into wells to keep fissures in the rock open so that oil and gas can be released.

    In the Midwest, farmland is being irreversibly lost in pursuit of silica sand.

    Wedron Silica, which is now owned by Ohio-based Covia, has been expanding this particular mine for years and now owns at least 2,500 acres in and around the tiny village. It’s just one of several that Covia owns across LaSalle County, Illinois, 90 miles southwest of Chicago. Here, U.S. Silica, Smart Sand, and other companies are also actively mining.

    Together, the companies have purchased hundreds of parcels of land and now own more than 9,000 acres in LaSalle, a Civil Eats investigation has found. The majority of those acres are former or current farmland. Silica mining is also prevalent in other parts of Illinois and regions of Wisconsin and Missouri.

    Read full article: https://civileats.com/2022/07/19/from-farmland-to-frac-sand/

      Frac Sand Mining near Starved Rock State Park, La Salle County, Illinois, YouTube videos

      Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

      PQ Pollution, Utica, Illinois, factory near Starved Rock State Park

      Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

      Did you know that PQ in Utica is owned by the Koch Brothers, and makes fracking chemicals that are being shipped to Canada and all over the U.S.?

      Metso Pentabead is classified as a corrosive hazardous material. Below is a link to material data safety sheets for Metso Penta bead. The first precautionary statement is, ” Do not breathe dust”. Chemical vapor from manufacturing Metso Bead pours out of PQ all night long.

      During the day, when residents are awake and tourists are in town, the factory stays fairly quiet with less vapor being released. However, every night between 10pm – 6 am, while residents are asleep and tourists are away, the factory comes to life, and chemical vapor pours out at an astounding rate.

      With all that chemical vapor being released into the air every night, it seems impossible for residents to avoid breathing the hazardous chemical vapor, air pollution, and dust coming in through the vents of their homes while they are asleep, and hovers in the air during the day when they are awake.

      This video was taken on one of the calmer nights the plant was operating on a warm summer night. The air was warm. This is not a case of warm steam hitting cool air, but is chemical vapor air pollution.

      METSO PENTABEAD® 20 Sodium Metasilicate, pentahydrate – http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://www.chemicalstore.com/MSDS/PQ_SodiumMetasilicatePentahydrate.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1GJHGQ7daqAllWp6vudjAlIEQjzT7d7Rfjxj5dtggq5wkkFIAazTske70

      #UticaIL #StarvedRock #FracSand #Mining #protectstarvedrock