Please join us on Saturday, December 8, 2007 from 12:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. for a Community Meeting to discuss the toxic site at 5th and Hill Streets in the north end of Champaign, IL hosted by the CU Citizens for Peace & Justice, in collaboration with the Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) and theUIUC Department of Urban & Regional Planning.
The meeting will address concerns of community health and environmental problems in the neighborhood associated with the site. Topics to be presented at the meeting include:
- Presentation of research findings regarding the site and neighborhood;
- Report on recent meeting between community members, Ameren IP, and City of Champaign regarding the process for developing aplan to remediate the site;
- Testimony from local neighborhood residents about their experiences and concerns;
- Plans to establish a coalition to ensure that community health and safety needs are met throughout the site remediation process.
Background: The 3.5 acre lot at 5th Street and Hill Street in Champaign is a former manufactured gas plant (FMGP) site from1887 until 1953. Gas was manufactured by heating coal, and then following aprocess 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 xylenes), 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 billion dollars.
WHO: CU Citizens for Peace & Justice in collaboration with Champaign County Health Care Consumers and UIUC Department of Urban & Regional Planning
WHAT: Community Meeting on Toxic Site at 5th and Hill
WHEN: Saturday, December 8, 2007 – 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
WHERE: Douglass Branch Library – 504 E. Grove St., Champaign
Click here [1] to download the flyer (PDF).