You are invited to attend this upcoming meeting of the 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign. This Campaign is being organized as a result of the “Community Meeting on the Toxic Site at 5th and Hill” held on December 8, 2007 at the Douglass Branch Library.

The 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign is dedicated to protecting the health of the neighborhood and the rights of the community in relation to the toxic site owned by Ameren, located at 5th and Hill Streets in Champaign.

Please join us for this Campaign meeting, where we will discuss:
•    the health effects of toxins found at the 5th & Hill site;
•    neighborhood rights under the law;
•    the role of elected officials in helping our community on this issue.

Come and learn what you can do to help! All are welcome!

5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign Meeting

For more information or to RSVP, please contact:
Champaign County Health Care Consumers – (217) 352-6533 • cchcc@HealthCareconsumers.org

CU Citizens for Peace and Justice – (217) 344-1811 • livingsoul@sbcglobal.net 

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BACKGROUND:
The 3.5 acre lot at 5th Street and Hill Street in Champaign is a former manufactured gas plant (FMGP) site from 1887 until 1953. Gas was manufactured by heating coal, and then following a process to remove coal tar and other impurities. The coal tar and other production wastes were left on the site until the closing of the plant. According to information provided by Illinois Power (now Ameren IP) in 1990, the lightweight chemical compounds found in coal tar, known as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), move easily through soils and are associated with various health problems.

Ameren IP has registered this site, and 24 other sites like it, with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency under their Site Remediation Program (SRP). Under this program, Ameren agrees to clean up this site, with a cost estimate between $3 and $15 million dollars.