Little Oversight from EPA Leads to Big Pollution Problems from Carus Chemical

Posted on by Karry King

BY: Karry King

November 9, 2023

LA SALLE, Illinois – Dan Murphy likes to take his dog fishing at the Little Vermillion River near his home in La Salle, Illinois, a rural community located ninety miles southwest of Chicago.

Murphy, 44, has been fishing and four-wheeling along the banks of the Little Vermillion River his entire life. He says that when he takes Baby Blue, his nine-year-old pit bull, she often gets a bacterial infection when she goes in the water.

“She doesn’t understand what danger she’s in,” Murphy said.

Murphy says the infection has happened at least a dozen times. His vet usually prescribes antibiotics, and it goes away. He rinses her with Bactine when they get home to prevent an infection.

Murphy lives near Carus Chemical, a company that manufactures chemicals used to treat drinking water. Potassium permanganate, the company’s main product, is used by municipalities in the U.S. and all over the world for water treatment. The chemical is also used in mining, fracking, refining crude oil, explosives and manufacturing cocaine. Since January, residents have learned there are heavy metals in their soil, water and air filters. They believe it is from the chemical factory and say the factory is not being properly regulated.

Murphy says Carus Chemical has a discharge pipe that empties wastewater from its factory into the river and says the river water smells like bacteria and chemicals in some areas. He recently took a sample of the mineral scale off the pipe that had built up over the years from the wastewater. When the test results came back, it showed that barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, zinc and mercury were present in the scale.

Many LaSalle residents are concerned about Carus’ effect on the community after an explosion and massive fire at its factory near their homes in January 2023. During the fire, a chemical cloud formed above the town and rained green and purple chemicals onto the people and their properties. After the fire, many residents sent soil from their yards and furnace filters from inside their homes to a lab for testing and found the same metals that are in the scale.

Marty Schneider, 46, also grew up near the Carus plant, fishing, hiking and riding dirt bikes along the river. He bought a home ten years ago several blocks from Carus. He wasn’t worried about the plant.

“The neighborhood was up and coming,” Schneider said. “Carus has two signs outside about its safety record, promoting it. So, I never really paid any attention to it.”

He later learned that his home was part of a superfund site but was told by the U.S. EPA that Carus was not the source of the pollution. Carus’ sister company, M & H Zinc, no longer in business, was said to be the source of the metals in Schneider’s yard. The EPA replaced the soil in his and several other residents’ yards a few years ago. After the fire, heavy metals are back in Schneider’s yard.

Schneider is worried about his water now, too. He purchased a whole house filter after the fire and installed a reverse osmosis system at his kitchen sink for cooking and drinking water. He said that when he changed his whole house water filter this summer, it was black.

“I took my concerns down to the city and to the City Council meeting, and they brushed it off. So, I pulled out my whole house water filtration system filter and showed them how black it was,” Schneider said.

Schneider says that at the September meeting, he asked the city what was wrong with the water treatment, and the city said there was nothing wrong.

However, EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) shows the City of La Salle’s water treatment plant has been in violation since July and has had multiple violations over the past three years.

The ECHO website shows pollutants found in the city wastewater include the same metals that were in the discharge pipe scale, soil and furnace filters from residents’ homes: barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury and zinc.

Carus has a permit to discharge 1 million gallons of chemical wastewater per day into the Little Vermillion River. Its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), a state branch of the federal EPA, lists chloride and zinc as effluents allowed to be discharged by Carus.

There are no limits mentioned on the permit for the pollutants. It also does not list the other metals that were found in the scale.

Denise Trabbic Pointer, a chemical engineer and certified hazardous material manager emeritus, who has been volunteering to help La Salle residents with testing and analysis, says that metals and suspended solids found in the scale are leaching into the Little Vermillion River, but it’s difficult to know how much without regular testing.

“Carus is discharging with little oversight and an NPDES permit with few restrictions,” Trabbic-Pointer said. “The IEPA needs to pay more attention, perform more inspections and update the permit in 2024 to include more metals with actual criteria to reduce their impact to the river.”

She says the two lagoons where the chemical factory wastewater is held before discharge, and the river near the outfall and downstream, are not clear, and there appears to be a lot of algae growth.

“The Little Vermillion is already ‘impaired’ due to a total maximum load (TMDL) of chlorine pH, total suspended solids and zinc. Carus is listed in a 2018 TMDL review as a major contributor to zinc and chloride,” Trabbic-Pointer said.

Each metal in the scale has a slightly different effect on aquatic life. Mercury is particularly hazardous to the environment and to people.

“My opinion, just based on what I know, is that their discharge permits need to be amended to include more strict control on their discharge of zinc and other metals, chloride and suspended solids,” Trabbic-Pointer said. “Carus is rarely inspected.”

The company had two noncompliance items in 2020 and 2021 for air pollution violations but nothing for water in the IEPA document system.

Murphy and Schneider are both concerned about the effect these metals may have on their health. They want the EPA to regulate Carus better and for them to stop dumping chemicals into the river.

“It seems like they’re giving permits out and not following up,” Schneider said.

“It explains the amount of mental health problems and Alzheimer’s and diseases we have in this area, and the dementia rate, cancers and mental health issues,” Murphy said. “I’ll probably be crazy because I grew up down there.”

“I’m going to be demented from all the mercury soaking in through my clothes,” Murphy said.

Explosion Draws Scrutiny to Illinois Chemical Company

Posted on by Karry King
Cloud of smoke bellowing at Carus Chemical during the fire and explosions in LaSalle, Illinois.

Story by Karry King Edited by: Ben Westhoff

On the morning of January 11, a chemical manufacturing warehouse in La Salle, Illinois exploded.

Orange flames ascended into a thick black cloud over the rural town, ninety miles southwest of Chicago. Over one million pounds of a chemical called potassium permanganate were released into the atmosphere, and the purple residue coated roofs, decks, cars, and yards. Streams of purple runoff flowed into the river via storm drains, according to reports.  

La Salle’s fire chief ordered residents to stay in their homes and students to stay in their schools.

“I had purple stuff on my face and in my hair,” said Jamie Hicks, a LaSalle resident caught outside when it happened.

No alarms sounded. Townspeople could see smoke but didn’t know where it was coming from and wondered what was going on.

The company’s primary product, potassium permanganate, is best known as a chemical for treating municipal drinking water, and it is also used in mining, fracking, and refining crude oil. Illicit drug manufacturers also make cocaine with it, though there is no evidence that Carus’ chemicals are diverted for this purpose.

The explosion took place after a bag of potassium permanganate was accidentally torn open by a forklift while being loaded. Known to enhance combustion, the chemical ignited a piece of cardboard, and the fire quickly spread through the warehouse, causing several explosions. The U.S. Department of Labor fined Carus $14,000 for putting their workers’ lives in danger.

The company advised community members to use peroxide and vinegar to clean their homes, and offered free car washes. Sales representatives visited homes to assess the damage and assured residents that the chemicals were safe, say locals.

“This stuff etched into fiberglass on my boat,” said La Salle resident Don Gaddis. “[It] physically burnt right into the gel coat. It ate the paint off my vehicles…. But they’re telling us it’s safe.” (The company did not respond to our request for comment, but has made public claims about its chemicals’ safety, such as that fallout can be “safely rinsed away with water.”)

Metals including barium, manganese, copper, and lead have shown up in the soil, drinking water, and air filters inside residents’ homes.

La Salle residents Marty Schneider, Mark Schneider (Peru) and Jamie Hicks hold protest signs in front of Carus Chemical Company’s headquarters in Peru, Illinois, in April 2023, after the company refused to give the City of LaSalle its insurance providers name. The community held several protests outside of the company’s headquarters before it finally agreed it a town hall meeting in May at L-P Highschool. Photo by Katie Dumke Troccolli

Angry neighbors have held protests outside Carus’ headquarters. Convinced that the media isn’t telling the full story, they’ve also requested documents through the Freedom of Information Act from the EPA and state and local governments.

After five months of protests, Carus finally held a town hall meeting at the local high school on May 10. La Salle residents questioned Carus executives for two hours about the company’s history, practices, and EPA violations.

Some were upset that Carus stored chemicals near their homes in a building without a permit, neglecting to inform residents that it contained potassium permanganate, which is an explosive chemical.

“You could have killed all of us!” shouted Linda Battaglia at the meeting. “Sorry means nothing if there’s no action behind it.” 

Erik Dyas, a certified hazardous materials trainer, said Carus should have enlisted a HazMat team to clean up the spill.

“Is the reason you didn’t call HazMat because it costs money?” asked Dyas. “If you’re putting your workers in danger, shame on you, not to mention you’re endangering everybody else.”

Photo by Karry King

The uproar stands in contrast to the company’s previous peaceful coexistence with its neighbors in La Salle, where it has operated for over 100 years.

Its founding family members emigrated from Germany in 1856 to start a smelting company, choosing La Salle because of its resources — coal and zinc — and its proximity to the Illinois River and I & M Canal. They supplied zinc for Union armaments during the Civil War.

In 1915, grandson Edward Hegeler Carus began making potassium permanganate in a bathtub in the horse barn behind the family’s mansion after learning supplies had been cut off from Germany. He sold it to the U.S. government to use in explosives.

During the second World War, Carus Chemical supplied potassium permanganate to the U.S. government and was honored by the Navy for their contribution.

Edward’s son Blouke studied chemistry under Nobel Prize-winning chemist Hermann Staudinger at the University of Freiburg, Germany. After returning to the U.S. in 1951, Blouke and his brother Paul took over the management of Carus and revolutionized how potassium permanganate was made. By 1961, the company began marketing directly to U.S. cities. Today their chemical is used in over 50 percent of water consumed in the U.S.

Blouke’s daughter, Inga Carus, took over as Carus chairman in 2005, and Carus has continued dominating the industry, expanding across the globe. The company has opened branches in China and Spain, and remains in the midst a $20 million expansion of the La Salle plant, having resumed production and shipping within a week of the January explosion.

Yet many La Salle residents continue to be furious about the explosion and its fallout, saying it has negatively impacted their health, and that the company hasn’t taken full responsibility.

Lisa Dyas, who lives near the explosion site, says her 14-year-old son spent weeks in the hospital with severe pneumonia after the fire, and the fluid had barely left his lungs four months later.

“The chemical burned a hole in my chair. Don’t tell me it’s not harmful,” said Dyas.

April Stevenson, a La Salle single mom, said she had to get three teeth pulled because of infection from the chemicals and couldn’t breathe properly when Carus resumed production. She was forced to visit the emergency room twice, and her kids became sick with respiratory issues and infections. Others complain of headaches, racing heartbeats, nausea, and sick pets.

Stevenson said Carus’s insurance rejected her medical claims and offered her only $774 — for her ruined bicycles. Many residents want a full federal investigation of the company.

“Cancer and dementia are too common in our area,” said Marty Schneider, whose yard is full of dust from the factory’s smokestacks. “My dog gets sick as hell every time that stuff is in my yard. People are getting sick. It’s time [for Carus] to start being honest.”

The company said it has received over 100 insurance claims from affected residents; some used their personal carriers instead of going through Carus, and others refused to accept a settlement that required signing a form exempting Carus from future liability.

Reads the release: “The Releasor…will not make any statements, comments, or communications that … may be considered to be derogatory or detrimental to [Carus’] good name or business reputation.”

Karry King, a student at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, originally hails from the Illinois Valley. She has been covering chemical contamination and mining issues in the area since 2014. www.karryaking.wordpress.com

Cloud of smoke bellowing at Carus Chemical during the fire and explosions in LaSalle, Illinois.
Cloud of smoke bellowing at Carus Chemical during the fire and explosions in LaSalle, Illinois.

Carus Chemical’s ‘Serious’ OSHA Violation & Supreme Court Case: ‘Willful and Wanton Misconduct’

Posted on by Karry King
Fire Triangle Carus Chemical OSHA Violation

by: Karry King

The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined Carus Chemical $15,191 and issued two citations resulting from the January fire at their manufacturing plant in La Salle, Illinois. Carus is contesting the violations and fines that were issued after the investigation was completed on July 7, 2023.

One of the violations has a gravity of ten, which OSHA spokesman Scott Allen said is the most serious violation a company can receive. “This means it could have resulted in a serious injury or fatality,” said Allen.

According to the citation, “[Carus] failed to provide employees with non-combustible materials for use in storage and handling of potassium permanganate,” and their actions were “likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to fire hazards due to an oxidizer coming into contact with combustible materials.”

The fire, which rapidly spread through the warehouse and resulted in several explosions and the formation of a chemical cloud that caused chemicals to rain onto the community, started after a bag of potassium permanganate was ripped open while being loaded into a semi.

The damaged bag was placed on cardboard and moved to a different location in the warehouse. The chemical that spilled onto the floor was cleaned up and put in a plastic bucket.

Security camera footage obtained from the Illinois State Fire Marshal shows the pallet with the bucket and cardboard being pushed across the warehouse floor by a forklift with a trail of black powder behind it. Smoke and flames can be seen within seconds of the pallet being put into place. Security cameras from outside the warehouse show multiple explosions coming from inside the warehouse as the product spontaneously combusted.

Security Camera Footage and Illinois State Fire Marshal Report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P744cEWzQVE

Explosions: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MfTr5ZeUYAQ

Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a chemical engineer and certified hazardous material manager emeritus, who is volunteering in La Salle, said the cardboard provided fuel for the strong oxidizing agent, potassium permanganate. According to the fire marshal report, heat was created from the friction of the pallet dragging across the warehouse floor, which ignited the potassium permanganate and started the cardboard on fire.

Fire Triangle Carus Chemical OSHA Violation

“The potassium permanganate continued to propagate the fire and caused a much larger fire with all the surrounding combustible materials in the warehouse,” said Trabbic-Pointer.

Carus is no stranger to potassium permanganate spontaneously igniting when it touches cardboard. In 1986, the company lost a case before the New Jersey Supreme Court, Mahoney v. Carus Chemical Co., Inc., in which it was sued by Thomas Mahoney, a firefighter who was injured when he responded to a fire that broke out at Inversands, a customer that Carus shipped potassium permanganate packaged in fiber-cardboard drums.

Mahoney v. Carus Chemical Co., Inc. https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/1986/102-n-j-564-0.html

Internal documents obtained by the court revealed that Carus was aware of the risks of using fiber drums and discussed installing a sprinkler system in the warehouse as a preventative measure. Court documents state that when questioned, Carus did not dispute that they knew “the bottom and sides of the fiber drums used for shipping potassium permanganate were combustible.”

In 1975, Carus had switched from metal drums to fiber-paper drums to package potassium permanganate after estimating it could save the company $35,000 annually by using the less-expensive drums. After a series of spontaneous, unexplained fires that occurred at their warehouse in February 1976, Carus decided to stop using fiber-based packaging, but continued to ship potassium permanganate in the remaining drums that were left. On June 13, 1978, two hours after Inversands received a shipment of potassium permanganate, the fiber drums spontaneously combusted and a fire broke out. On May 21, 1986, the N.J. Supreme Court concluded that Carus was guilty of “willful and wanton misconduct.”

At a town hall meeting after the January 2023 fire, in March, Erik Dyas, a certified hazardous materials trainer, questioned Carus about their procedure for cleaning up the spill that led to the fire in January. Dyas said that proper protocol was to contact a HazMat team to clean up the spill and accused Carus of not following proper procedures. Dyas said it costs a minimum of $4,500 each time they call, and if a team must come, it costs an additional $5,000.

Dyas at Town Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUaLhpOLoc

OSHA representative, Scott Allen, said that because Carus contested the violation, it will go to the Occupational Safety Review Commission and could take up to a year for a decision. “They will look at it and try to determine whether the violation could stand or not. They’ll have discussions with both parties to try and determine whether the violation is going to stand and whether they should pay all the penalties or not,” said Allen.

Carus was contacted for comment but did not provide one for this article. The company gave a link to a Shaw News article that was published on July 26th, which includes a comment from Lindsay Bliss, vice president of human resources at Carus Chemical.

Carus Serious OSHA Violation, Citation 01001: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1643025.015&citation_id=01001

Carus OSHA Violation, Citation 01002:

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=1643025.015&citation_id=02001

OSHA Inspection Detail: https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1643025.015

Carus Chemical OSHA Violation
Carus Chemical OSHA violation. Carus received the most serious safey violation given by OSHA, gravity 10.

Carus Chemical Town Hall

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley
Carus Chemical Town Hall Meeting

by Karry King

LA SALLE, IL – Residents from La Salle and Ottawa met with Carus Chemical on Wednesday to discuss community concerns after the massive fire at Carus’ manufacturing plant in January. This was the second town hall meeting with Carus since the fire.

“As of last Friday, we have 123 outstanding claims,” said Chryss Crockett, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at Carus LLC. “Some of the clients have gone through their own personal carriers,” said Crockett. She then said that Carus will reimburse homeowners up to $2500 for their insurance deductibles and that information about filing claims and deductible reimbursement is on their website. Crocket said that coverage on vehicles is different by carrier but did not go into details.

Rich Landtiser, vice president of innovation and technology at Carus, discussed data from the PurpleAir monitor on the roof of the La Salle library that measures particulate matter in the air. He also talked about the chemicals that fell from the sky during the fire.

“There was potassium permanganate that went up in the atmosphere. It was raised up in the updrafts of the fire,” said Landtiser. He went on to say that some of the potassium permanganate decomposed in the fire and turned into potassium manganate manganese dioxide, which fell in the neighborhood, along with some potassium permanganate.

“The library data shows there isn’t any difference in the pre-fire or post-fire and plant restart in the air quality,” said Landtiser. Residents pointed out that Carus’ analysis conflicts with the Sierra Club’s analysis of the library air monitor data. Carus did not give details about how they made the analysis and announced they purchased an air monitor for the city of LaSalle to track data.

LaSalle Library air monitor data before and after Carus Chemical fire.
LaSalle Library air monitor data before and after Carus Chemical fire.

 Sierra Club analysis of air monitor data during phosphate and catalyst start-up

Carus also said they were going to revamp community emergency response plans, which they did not have in place prior to the fire and are working with the city to put together a committee. Nick Mazzarelli, a resident of La Salle, asked if he could be part of the committee.

Questions were raised about safety and evacuation plans for the old K-Mart in Ottawa that is now being used by Carus to store potassium permanganate, catalysts, phosphates, sodium and zinc, among other chemicals, according to Alan Gibbs, vice president of operations at Carus.

The warehouse where the chemicals are stored is part of the Ottawa South Towne Mall, where several government offices are also located that are open to the public, including the Illinois State Dept of Employment, Health and Human Services and others. It’s also located next to a senior housing complex, recreation facilities and schools. When pressed about where safety and evacuation plans could be found for employees who work inside the building and the community, Carus did not respond.

“Does anyone here know what to do?” asked an unidentified citizen, to which the crowd replied, “No.”

“So, this can happen again. What happened in La Salle can happen again,” said the blonde-haired woman at the microphone.

Carus Chemical fire town hall meeting video: https://youtu.be/_muJfrn_Qns

Carus Chemical's highly combustible potassium permanganate is stored in the same building as these government offices at the South Town Mall in Ottawa, Illinois.
Carus Chemical's highly combustible potassium permanganate is stored in the same building as these government offices at the South Town Mall in Ottawa, Illinois.

Offices inside the Ottawa South Towne Mall, which shares the building with Carus’ chemicals storage.

Carus Chemical's highly combustible potassium permanganate is stored in the same building as these government offices at the South Town Mall in Ottawa, Illinois.

Lotz Logistics stores chemicals for Carus at the Ottawa South Towne Mall (Image credit: Jamie Hicks)

Carus Town Hall Meeting #2 July 12, 2023: https://youtu.be/RlH9ALL7C-M

Carus Town Hall Meeting #1 May 10, 2023: https://youtu.be/MTWglWsflJo

LaSalle resident Marty Schneider responds to resident being served a warrant at the Town Hall meeting & the dumpster fire: https://youtu.be/pQm99ITAstk

Related Articles:

From Clothing to Chemicals: Ottawa South Towne Mall is now a tier 2 chemical storage facility.

Chemicals Used to Clean Water and Air May Be Polluting It

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA): https://www.epa.gov/epcra

Carus Family History, Chicago Reader: PowerHouse:

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/power-house/?fbclid=IwAR0V5S0QDG4R6BzI1Q90LhxVBfGgudco7bTpF4l9fgRdC01_b7WVeZXkASQ

EPA Proposes Changes to M&H Superfund Site for Groundwater Contamination

Posted on by Karry King
This 17-acre pile of slag and sinter that contains mercury, lead, cadmium and other chemical contaminants and heavy metals borders the Vermillion River at Carus Chemical's manufacturing plant in LaSalle Illinois. The Vermillion River empties into the Illinois River less than two miles from the plant and leads to the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a 6,300 mile dead zone where marine life cannot survive.

by: Karry King

LA SALLE, IL – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing changes to the groundwater contamination status and monitoring at the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc (M & H) Superfund site in La Salle, Illinois. The contaminated site includes nearly 5,000 homes, covers most of the city of La Salle and incorporates an 80-foot-tall slag pile owned by Carus Chemicals. The 17-acre pile of slag and sinter borders the Little Vermillion River, which empties into Illinois River. From there, it empties into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

Clay will be used to cap the slag on the top and three sides, with terracing, which will allow wildlife and fish to nest along the base. A layer of soil will go over top of the clay so grass and native vegetation can be planted. The slag will be capped according to Illinois EPA 724 regulations.

“We didn’t originally include the groundwater because it was assumed there were institutional rules and ordinances in place, and it wasn’t a concern,” said Demaree Collier, EPA remedial project manager for the M & H Superfund site. Collier has managed the M & H site for over 20 years, before it was placed on the National Priority List.

Slag pile along the Vermillion River, Owned by Carus Chemical, La Salle, Illinois. The slag is leaching contaminates into the groundwater, according to the U.S. EPA.
Slag Pile along the Little Vermillion River, owned by Carus Chemical, Photo Credit: U.S. EPA

The towering pile of slag that resembles coal with burnt red sinter and appears as a wall that runs along the river, contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, manganese and other contaminants, according to EPA documents. SVOCs and PCBs were also found onsite. The groundwater underneath exceeds the standards for allowable contaminants. The City of La Salle draws its drinking water from four wells located approximately three-quarters of a mile south of the contaminated site, with the closest one being approximately 3,700 feet away.

Carus Chemical slag pile is releasing contaminates into the Vermillion River, which leads to the Gulf of Mexico through the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
Slag Pile along the Little Vermillion River, owned by Carus Chemical, Photo Credit: Jamie Hicks

The U.S. EPA defines principial threat waste as being highly toxic, highly mobile, and cannot generally be contained. If released, it would pose a significant threat to human health and the environment. Because slag can be contained by putting a cap on it, the EPA is posing a change to the 2017 Record of Decision (ROD) from principal threat waste to a low-level threat.

The proposed amendment will change the threat level status of the groundwater contamination from principal threat waste to low level threat waste. According to Collier, this change will allow the EPA to begin designing a plan that will encapsulate the slag waste and reduce groundwater contamination.

“The cap they’re going to use is an Illinois EPA regulated cap that allows for that kind of waste with hazardous components to be held within it because it meets a whole bunch of standards, so nothing can infiltrate the cap,” said Collier.

“The idea is once we do a source control, cap the giant slag pile, consolidate the onsite main industrial slag and cap that, it could potentially reduce leaching into the groundwater. The idea is that it will reduce the level of contamination that is leaching every day,” said Collier.

Slag Pile Cap Concept Drawings, U.S. EPA
Slag Pile Cap Concept Drawings, U.S. EPA

The total cost of cleanup for the M & H Superfund site is estimated to be around $200 million. Once the ROD has been amended and signed, Collier said they will begin working on the cleanup design, which is expected to take approximately two years. After the design has been approved, the cleanup and capping will begin.

“Because we’ve been lucky enough that this site is receiving infrastructure bill money from the federal government, we’re getting an inpouring of millions of dollars just for this community, and we’re able to put that towards cleanup, so it’s happening a lot faster than it would have if we didn’t have this infrastructure money coming from the federal government,” said Collier. “The next step is negotiating with any responsible parties.”

M & H Superfund Site, Photo Credit: Google Earth

Sources and Contacts:

U.S. EPA, Collier, Demaree, 312-886-0214. Collier.demaree@epa.gov. Remedial Project Manager for the M & H Superfund Site.

U.S. EPA, Muhtsun, Ruth. 312-886-6595. muhtsun.ruth@epa.gov. Community Involvement Coordinator.

U.S. EPA, Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company 2017 Record of Decision. https://semspub.epa.gov/src/document/05/508966

U.S. EPA, Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company, La Salle, IL Site Documents & Data. https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.docdata&id=0507364

U.S. EPA, Community Guide to Capping. https://semspub.epa.gov/work/HQ/401585.pdf 

Illinois Department of Public Health, Martin, Aaron. 217-785-5886. Aaron.Martin@Illinois.gov. Toxicology Section Chief.

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Brad Frost. 217-782-7027. Brad.Frost@Illinois.gov. Manager, Office of Community Relations.

Chemicals Used to Clean Water and Air May Be Polluting It

Posted on by Karry King

By: Karry King

LA SALLE, IL – Potassium permanganate is used to purify water and air, but people who live near the plant where the chemical is manufactured in LaSalle, Illinois, say that it has contaminated the air, soil and water in their community.     

Carus LLC manufactures potassium permanganate and sodium permanganate, chemicals that are used by municipalities throughout the world to treat water. Over 50 percent of the domestic water that’s consumed in the United States is treated with potassium or sodium permanganate, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Potassium permanganate is also used in mining, fracking, refining crude oil and is a necessary ingredient in cocaine production. EPA documents confirmed that Carus is the only manufacturer of potassium permanganate in the western hemisphere.

In January 2023, a massive fire broke out at Carus’ LaSalle manufacturing plant that caused chemicals to rain onto the community and toxic smoke to fill the air. Since then, residents have been digging into Carus’ EPA records and learned that heavy metals and other toxins have been being emitted into the community for decades.

Community members worked with the Sierra Club to test 17 furnace filters taken from their homes after the fire. Test results revealed lead, mercury, barium, copper, zinc and manganese were present in the filters. Out of concern for their health, residents urged the EPA and City of La Salle to order Carus to pay for more testing and asked for ductwork inside their homes to be cleaned.

Residents brought up several health concerns at a town hall meeting Carus hosted in May. Lisa Dyas said her 14-year-old son spent 15 days in the hospital with severe pneumonia after the fire, and the fluid has barely left his lungs after four months. April Stevenson, a 40-year-old single mom, said she made two emergency room visits in one week because she couldn’t breathe when Carus resumed production after the fire. She now uses a breathing machine and is on several medications.

The U.S. EPA took air samples using mobile monitors set up north and south of Carus the evening of the fire. After 19 hours of ambient air testing, the EPA said they “did not detect any substances at levels of concern” and left the scene.

However, Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a Chemical Engineer and Certified Hazardous Material Manager Emeritus, who is volunteering in La Salle, said the U.S. EPA data was not continuous, and they used an OSHA standard for comparison. OSHA standards are written for workers who leave the jobsite at the end of the day, unlike La Salle residents who breathe the air 24/7. The Illinois EPA reviewed airborne particulate matter data, but that data doesn’t reflect the toxicity of airborne metals, which were found in the furnace filters.

Lead is known to damage the brain and nervous system in children. Manganese, which was also in the filters, and was found in high levels in soil that was tested, is linked to Parkinson’s disease, psychiatric impairments, decreased IQ scores, depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular and lung diseases, according to the 2023 study, Manganese Toxicity, by Evans and Masullo.

Carus did not provide a comment for this article but addressed the issue in a letter published in the News Tribune on May 7, 2023. Richard Landtiser, vice president of innovation and technology, wrote “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency took numerous soil and air tests. They concluded the environment was safe, with no hazards to public health.”

“The community is concerned that the extent of manganese in the soil and that remains in their furnace system ductwork has not been fully assessed,” said Denise Trabbic-Pointer. 

La Salle Public Library PurpleAir Realtime Data for current air quality:

https://map.purpleair.com/1/a/i/mAQI/a30/p2592000/cC0?key=8HP4A9UIXE216L37&select=125247#11.19/41.327/-89.104
iepa-air-quality-index-categories-and-recommendationsDownload

LaSalle Resident Letter to IEPA Letter about Carus Chemical Fire

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

To Whom It May Concern:

As a resident of La Salle, IL and as a homeowner affected by the fallout from the Carus Chemical LLC. Fire that occurred on January 11, 2023, I have several concerns that lead me to contact you today. Please understand that I have been working through the process, as are the other residents, and feel that as of writing this there are some concerns that I feel have not been addressed properly and I would like to see them looked into.

Allow me to return to my experience starting from the day of the fire through today as I feel that is the only way to fully paint the picture. The day of the fire my wife was at work in Ottawa, IL and I had dropped both of my children off at school. I myself left early to go to a doctors appointment in Oglesby, IL that morning. I was in my appointment when I received several urgent messages from friends concerning the fire. Despite being on the list for the city of La Salle’s contact hotline to allow community members to know of any important information, I was not notified and, therefore, unaware of what had occurred. Once leaving the office I was able to visibly see the large, black clouds to the North where the fire was happening.

Upon rushing home I found several streets surrounding the Carus Chemical LLC building starting to be closed down between Route 6 and my home,. I was able to get to my home (two blocks North of the plant) to find no obvious particles (again no information was relayed as to what to look for) barring a “freckled” appearance to my porch railing.

The smell outside can only be described as an open car battery running through a car wash, a strange combination of chemical and corrosion. Finding no obvious large material such as building material (steel, wood, etc.) I decided that I still needed to run my errands. I had wrongfully assumed that if there were any health concerns I would have been notified. I made my way to my children’s school as I was contacted by my son that they were potentially sending children home. The school informed me at that time they were in fact not intending to do so. I continued my errands as normal, noticing that the strange smell was still in the air in Peru, IL at the Target store.

Once finished, I returned home. By this time a friend of mine had posted on Facebook that Carus was telling people to clean the black/green material that was dotting my porch and everything outside my home with a combination of vinegar, water, and hydrogen peroxide mixed in equal parts. This would “inactivate” any chemicals that may remain active. As I was outside spraying down my porch I was notified by my wife that the school said they are keeping kids in until 3:00pm rather than the usual 2:00pm time they usually would be released. I continued to clean my porch, now using my pressure washer to spray off the remaining particles as a van from NBC pulled up asking for an interview. I declined as I had to get everything cleaned prior to picking up my children so they wouldn’t come in contact with the material on my porch.

Later that evening the news of the event came out from a press conference. There was a shelter in place order that was now (as of the evening news) lifted… something I had yet to hear about. The first call from the city coming at 7:58pm. We were informed that the IEPA and USEPA were monitoring the air quality as per standard protocol. The news that they had ended the air monitoring came January 13th.

Now, my first concern regarding this event is the lack of information from the city of La Salle. We have discussed this with them at city meetings, meetings that Carus to this day refuses to attend despite several requests from both the city and the residents. The emergency contact did not go out to many residents. That, as we have been informed, is now currently remedied. My second concern is that at no point was there an IEPA or USEPA person in my neighborhood to inform residents of any potentially dangerous chemical in the air.

Air quality results from the USEPA show that they have a 24-hour average standard that the main particulate matter concern (PM 2.5) should come to a total below 35.5 ug/m3. I looked at all of the published information from the USEPA and found several discrepancies in their numbers. First, the numbers are in mg/m3, a number that needs to be multiplied by 1000 to convert to the correct ug/m3 standard. Secondly, the air monitoring numbers for A-2 and A-3 (my home is between those two monitoring sites) show exactly two measurements, one taken the day of the fire (January 11, 2023) at 4:48pm (A-2) and the other at 6:32pm (A-2) that same day. As for the A-3 site the same, one taken at 4:59pm and the second at 6:47pm, both on January 11, 2023. No further testing is listed for either monitoring location (or any of the four locations north of the fire, the direction the wind was blowing that day). The numbers indicate levels at or above the indicated standard as the A-2 location was 35ug/m3 at 4:48pm and 52ug/m3 at 6:32pm. The A-3 location was 35ug/m3 at 4:59pm and 58ug/m3 at 6:47pm. Both numbers went up during the monitoring, both going from the Moderate/Unhealthy to Sensitive Groups range up to the Unhealthy [for all] range. There is no indication anywhere for these numbers past that point. Again, the standard [according to the USEPA website] is a 24-hour monitoring AVERAGE.

To further the concern, the last result listed for any of the monitors in any direction is on January 12, 2023 at 6:03am (SR-02). This would mean that the 24 hour standard was missed on the minimum number of hours by 10 hours and 20 minutes, using the data of the first collected sample taken at 4:23pm on January 11, 2023 (A-01). Did I mention that at the time of the last sample (SR-02 at 6:03am, January 12, 2023), if converted correctly was at 40ug/m3? That’s still listed at the level of Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. My next concern is that the soil samples taken that day were taken from the Carus Chemical LLC site. We, as residents did have some sampling taken from Brownsfield via the City of La Salle, though there has been questions as to the validity of the samples taken. Similarly the wipe samples taken by the IEPA on January 12, 2023 were, in the laboratory report listed as (X301-X306) not a quantitatively valid unit [as reported].

Furthermore many samples “failed to meet the quality control criteria.” This also raises a red flag as the IEPA and USEPA are involved in our area as part of an ongoing superfund site. Most of the affected homes have already had their yards remediated (us as residents question the job done during the remediation as we now have drainage issues we didn’t have prior) and now are faced with the unfortunate question: what is now in our soil?

The original testing was based upon what the Carus representatives said went up in the explosion, nearly one million pounds of potassium permanganate. Under the assumption that Carus was truthful about what was in the fire, agencies only tested for potassium and manganese. What was missed was the potential for many other hazardous metals and chemicals that may also have been involved, many of which are health hazards. I am concerned that the standard should not be on what the company at fault contests is the risk rather than what are all of the potential risks?

We as citizens are becoming aware of the many potentially dangerous substances that are housed at their factory (or in the case of the Apollo warehouse, in our back yards without any local officials being aware of their existence). We also question why the EPA is still doing much more extensive testing at the site of the fire and plant while declining any further testing for the residents. We were exposed to the same chemicals and do not understand the logic.

Currently we as a community have been in contact with the Sierra Club in regards to what we may be able to do about the above concerns and many others that are being raised. Several of our homes had furnace filters tested that revealed levels of several of the aforementioned hazardous metals including Barium, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Zinc, and in a few cases Mercury. The USEPA, IEPA, and IDPH have all raised several questions as to the validity of the furnace filters and the chain of command.

Please let me be very clear, my filter was one of the filters tested with all but Mercury in it. My filter was 2 weeks old as of the explosion, having been changed at the beginning of the new year. The filter was removed by me and taken directly to my neighbor who was in contact with the Sierra Club and followed the proper handling as per their recommendations.

As to the validity of the indoor air quality, nobody in my home smokes, there is no fireplace, we have not painted anything in our home for several months, our furniture is several years old, we don’t use cleaners regularly and minimally when we do, and rarely, if ever, use candles and/or air fresheners. The sampled filter should have no reason to be contaminated given the idea that these metals (many of which don’t normally exist naturally in the environment) go down and do not “float” upwards according to information shared with us. My furnace is in my attic, not my basement. They would have to defy gravity to get there.

We are looking into what options we have as residents to make sure that the air we breathe is not toxic or harmful with long-term exposure for not only ourselves, but our children. The continued concern is that several residents that initially tested filters have had a second filter tested with results continuing to show all of the above toxic metals, some of which have even increased.

We worry that Carus Chemical LLC is continuing to pollute the air for our community and its citizens.

Other concerns we have encountered within this process is the ever moving target for property damage reimbursement via insurance claims. Originally, when the Carus hotline was opened up (and the third phone number we were given finally was a valid number) we were told to go through our homeowners insurance company and to give them a form from the Carus Chemical LLC website. Carus would use the Davies Company to work with our insurance after all claims are finalized to settle with the insurance company that had paid for our repairs. As such, I have been working with my insurance.

However, Carus is now sending “adjusters” to our area that will not verify the agency they work for, nor give us information regarding the insurance company being used by Carus. The company has also denied the information to the city of La Salle. The people that are coming out are handing residents paperwork with a check (covering a small portion of damages, including in one case I heard a car wash reimbursement). The paperwork includes the title of the resident’s name Vs Carus. This is a legally binding agreement in which the person signs away any right to further payments for property or health reimbursement.

This is not only deceptive, but fraud as the residents are led to believe it is to take care of a current claim and not to take care of the entirety of the claim. And if Carus had previously said they were only taking care of things not covered by our homeowners insurance, how can they be making offers of settlement when our homeowners claims have not been fully processed?

Something is not right here. We have concerns regarding local news sources removing or revising content to the extent of painting Carus in a more positive light. This pertains to multiple online articles and radio broadcasts that later were missing from the on-demand content. We have concerns that the city officials were made aware that the Apollo warehouse was vacant except for old machine parts, only to find out that it took fifteen semi loads, all without the proper hazardous labeling (our city and state police were made aware) to remove chemicals being stored there.

The warehouse is, come to find out, listed as a tier two chemical facility. It had a hole in the roof, boarded up windows, no security or security cameras, and no water sprinkler system. Furthermore the only alarm up until recently went directly to Carus, not to a local switchboard for emergency personnel. We have concerns that Carus continues to stonewall our local officials for any further testing or reimbursement for any testing that has already been done due to being cleared by both the IEPA and USEPA, even after the testing results being highly suspicious, even when posted on their own website and not meeting the standards set by their agencies. Carus continues to dodge all public forums and refuses to call residents back regarding any concerns they may have.

At no point during this process have I, or any resident I have spoken to, felt as if the governing bodies that we should believe are for the people have met a fraction of the expectations we should receive at a minimum. It feels as if our tax dollars are hard at work to keep us from getting answers and peace of mind. We ask for further, and proper, testing to make sure the health of the citizens of La Salle, IL are not being put at risk as a byproduct of this corporation’s operation so the rest of the world can have clean drinking water. We do not wish for our families to suffer significant health risks due to insufficient testing from what has already occurred and lack of further oversight of emissions by Carus Chemical LLC in the future.

It is a bit alarming to step back and realize that Carus Chemical LLC is responsible for a vast majority of the filtration for drinking water worldwide, giving them unimaginable influence and power politically. We recognize that Inga Carus has been on a number of trips with governors and elected officials representing plans for economic growth, potentially creating a vast interest in the company’s profitability and expansion. With this in mind, it is difficult to think anything other than the lack of concern and further testing by IEPA, US EPA and IDPH on behalf of the residents smells of political influence in play here.

Josh Busche

La Salle, IL resident, affected by the January 11, 2023 Carus Chemical LLC fire

Carus Spells Out Events It Believes Led To Fire

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

Jeremy Aitken, Starved Rock Media, Mar 30, 2023

“The chemical company says following a comprehensive review, the root cause of the La Salle plant fire was a combination of events stemming from damaged packaging of Potassium Permanganate.

A release from the company says the potassium was being transported from the warehouse to a waiting truck and was damaged in transit by a forklift truck.

Workers cleaned up spilled material and moved the damaged packaging to a separate location.

As the damaged packaging of chemicals was being moved, friction caused by the forklift truck moving a support pallet likely ignited material underneath the pallet.”

Update: Illinois Fire Marshal Report and warehouse security footage.

Read the full article: https://www.starvedrock.media/wlpo/carus-spells-out-events-it-believes-led-to-fire/article_1b1fbd26-cf37-11ed-85c4-ebd7be2b47f1.html?fbclid=IwAR0qwaVJLxQ_PPY2LAEu5UQuD5t7UP5ILnxDfWOcCT5Ybjp2YBBuPAHvDBY

EPA Recommendations from Sierra Club for Resident Safety after Carus Chemical Fire and Explosion

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

Denise Trabbic-Pointer is a Toxic and Remediation Specialist at the Sierra Club Club Michigan Chapter. She serves as a national technical resource volunteer for communities impacted by releases of toxins to air, water and/or soil.

She is a Chemical Engineer with a BS and MS in Hazardous Materials Management, an EHS professional and a Certified Hazardous Material Manager (CHMM) Emeritus. She retired in 2019 after 42 years at Dupont and a spin-off company, Axalta Coating Systems.

Denise sent the below letter outlining her concerns and recommendations to the EPA and LaSalle City Council about Carus Chemicals’ manufacturing plant, Ottawa storage building and toxic waste landfill.

final-letter-to-region-5-regarding-carus-and-related-regulatory-issues-1Download

Opinion | Write Team: Are we condemned to repeat the same mistake?

Posted on by Protect Starved Rock and the Illinois Valley

By Paul Wheeler, Shaw Local News

March 27, 2023

“Potassium permanganate. It is an oxidizer used throughout the country in the water purification process. The highlights of its classification include its ability to intensify fires and its known potential for explosion when in contact with combustible substances….

Following the Jan. 11 Carus explosion in La Salle, plans were made to move all stored materials from the La Salle location to an alternative site. Though investigation of the fire and explosion has not been completed, it might be fair to assume potassium permanganate was involved, with Carus being the largest producer of the substance in the country and the fact it was a substance released in the fire’s aftermath.

Oddly, that “alternative storage site” has turned out to be in the very midst of three of Ottawa’s primary elementary schools. Two of those schools, Central and Shepherd, are 300 yards from the main storage building. McKinley Elementary School is located approximately two blocks away….

There are about 1,000 students occupying all three schools on any given day. Young minds utterly unaware of the decisions being made on their behalf, or not being made on their behalf, by the adults in charge. Yet, given all the warehousing alternatives present in spacious La Salle County, why would one prefer a site so closely situated to so many vulnerable children? It boggles the mind.

Read the full article: 👇

https://www.shawlocal.com/mywebtimes/opinion/columns/2023/03/27/write-team-are-we-condemned-to-repeat-the-same-mistake/