Protect Starved Rock and The Illinois Valley
The desctruction and loss of Midwest farmland and the contamination of the Illinois Valley from frac sand mining and chemical manufacturing.
Carus Chemical is the only producer of potassium permanganate and sodium permanganate in the Western Hemisphere.
This explains a lot about the lack of accountability, and the City of LaSalle bending over backwards and covering for Carus as residents became aware of illegally stored product in a crumbling building behind their homes.
Because of its unique geology and minerals, La Salle County, Illinois, has become a center for resource extraction and chemical manufacturing.
LaSalle 4th Ward former alderman Mark Schneider gives his thoughts on the Sierra Club‘s presentation at the LaSalle City Council meeting on Monday, March 6
“Now that we have test results, not only do these air filters to show all these heavy metals, we have soil test results from a yard that was cleaned up in the EPA Superfund cleanup, and now with soil testing has shown that it has actually a higher heavy metal contents than it did prior to the superfund cleanup.”
by: John Small, Starved Rock Media, March 7, 2023
LaSalle City Council got grim numbers about the Carus Chemical fire Monday night. At Mayor Jeff Grove’s invitation, the Sierra Club‘s MIla Kellen Marshall P.hD and Denise Trabbic-Pointer spoke to the Council about testing done immediately after the January 11th fire. Speaking by phone from Michigan, Trabbic-Pointer said particulate matter was sampled for about 19 hours after the blaze.
This dust is so fine, she said, it gets into the deepest parts of the lungs. More troubling said Trabbic-Pointer, were results showing levels 12 points above the 24-hour regulatory limit. Later, an examination of eight furnace filters taken from affected homes showed the presence of the metals Barium, Copper, Lead, Manganese and Zinc. Alderman Jim Bacidore asked Trabbic-Pointer is it safe outside for kids and pets:
For almost two hours, residents whose property took the brunt of the chemical laden smoke, took more shots at Carus and sometimes the city. The question of legal action against Carus was discussed. City Attorney Jim McPhedran said it’s something that’s costly and a deeply involved process. Carus Chemical officials continue to duck City Council meetings.
March 6, 2023
Less than eight weeks after the Carus Chemical fire and chemical plant explosion in LaSalle, Illinois, Carus had another chemical spill.
The purple chemical on the road, near the end of the video, is one of several chemicals that fell onto peoples’ homes, cars, and yards in January from a chemical cloud that formed during the explosion and fire at Carus.
This same purple chemicals is being released by the factory in LaSalle into the Little Vermilion River. The Little Vermillion empties into the Illinois River.
Carus also owns a landfill along the Illinois River, which is believed to be leaching toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the river.
The Illinois River empties into the Mississippi River, then into Gulf of Mexico, where there is a 6,334 square mile dead zone. NOAA: https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/deadzonegulf-2021/welcome.html?fbclid=IwAR0_i58Gde813KEsDG2DSrdMxmWv3qwp_IGbDMl8WKUqz3f-rxIBb-FDTMI#:~:text=The%202021%20Gulf%20of%20Mexico,over%20the%20past%20five%20years
Farmers have been blamed for the Gulf dead zone.
How much do Carus Chemical and other polluters contribute to this dead zone?
Carus is one of many polluters, which include manufacturers and mining companies that release toxic waste into the Illinois River near La Salle, Illinois.
The building in the video that resembles the Adams’ Family home is the Hegeler Carus Mansion, built in 1876 and considered “one of the Midwest’s great Second Empire structures,” according to the website. https://lnkd.in/gqdbyHBE
To learn more about Carus Chemical and industrial and mining pollution in the Illinois Valley. Visit our blog: https://lnkd.in/gNsx3BHq
Photos by: Marty Schneider
Below are Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for chemicals manufactured and stored at Carus Chemical’s plant in LaSalle, Illinois, and stored at the former South Towne Mall, now known as Lotz Storage, in Ottawa, Illinois.
LaSalle 4th Ward former alderman has produced a 3rd video with his thoughts about Carus Chemical and the City of LaSalle after the Carus Chemical explosion and chemical fire.
“My advice to the people running for office in LaSalle next month, it applies to newbies and currently sitting aldermen as well. People have taken note of who has taken up for the residents and who has not…this isn’t a topic you can sit out because it isn’t going away no matter how badly Carus wants it to.” – Mark Schneider
TONIGHT!!!
Town Hall Meeting
6:30p, Monday, March 6
LaSalle City Hall
745 2nd St, LaSalle, IL
Sierra Club will present filter test results and discuss health effects of the metals and chemicals found in furnace filters and EPA samples.
Sierra Club has also announced they will test more filters.
Help with cost is available.
This is a community issue that involves more than just LaSalle.
Emissions from Carus’ plumes are carried by the wind throughout LaSalle, Peru and surrounding rural areas. Chemicals from the explosion also landed on homes in Dimmick.
Chemicals manufactured at Carus are now being stored at the former South Towne Mall in Ottawa, and the waste from their plant is being taken to a landfill in Ottawa, which we believe is leaching toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the Illinois River.
The chemicals and metals the Sierra Club will discuss, and were present in the filters, are recorded in EPA reports as emissions coming from Carus’ plumes.
This is a multi-community issue.
On January 11, 2023, the Carus Chemical manufacturing plant in LaSalle, Illinois had an explosion & started on fire. Chemicals rained down onto the neighborhood and damaged homes and cars.
Jamie Hicks and other residents have been complaining since 2017 to the City of LaSalle and Carus about the building behind their homes and semi-truck traffic on their dead-end road.
Despite many complaints and asking what the building was used for, they were never told there was a tier 2 chemical storage facility in the crumbling building in their backyards. After the fire, residents demanded answers.
The City of LaSalle has been more concerned with the chemical company’s ability to reach its illegally stored product than it is about the neighbors who are being put in harms way by the chemical company.
Below are police reports involving Carus Chemical, along with a video taken by Jamie Hicks showing what happened. Jamie’s video and comments conflicts with the reports written by the officers.
Our request for body cam footage from the officers who were at the scene was denied. We have also requested body cam footage showing what is in the building, but were denied.
The below photos are of chemicals that came out of the Apollo building, located behind Jamie’s home, being unloaded at the South Towne Mall in Ottawa, Illinois, Carus’ new tier 2 chemical storage facility. As of March 3, thirteen truckloads have been transported out of the Apollo building behind his home.
Below are email communications between the City of LaSalle and Carus Chemical that were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, regarding the Carus Chemical explosion and fire.
Thank you, Mark Schneider, for standing behind residents of LaSalle who are affected by Carus’ carelessness and for having the courage to speak up.
Mark Schneider, 4th Ward former alderman for LaSalle, Illinois, is speaking up about how Carus Chemical is not being a good community partner after their chemical manufacturing plant exploded and rained toxic chemicals onto the LaSalle neighborhood.
Protect Starved Rock and The Illinois Valley 
