Reporting by Christiana Freitag for Chicago Tribune:
Illinois officials have secured a court order requiring a petroleum storage company to resume cleanup of a major asphalt spill in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal after federal regulators ended their oversight in November.
Over a year ago, half a million gallons of liquid asphalt spilled into the canal near Forest View. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initially oversaw the remediation efforts, removing more than 2,000 tons of material before it stepped away from enforcing further cleanup efforts.
An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency review of the site in December found toxic sludge still in the waterway, and state officials became concerned the cleanup had been ended prematurely.
In March, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit alleging the St. Louis-based Petroleum Fuel & Terminal Co. had violated IEPA and Illinois Pollution Control Board regulations by discharging liquid asphalt into the canal, a 32-mile waterway connecting the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River.
On Wednesday, Judge Neil H. Cohen of the Circuit Court of Cook County granted a preliminary injunction for the case, which compels the petroleum storage company to complete the remediation under state oversight.
“This injunction affirms what locals and experts already know: This spill is not over, and the job is not done,” said Illinois Environmental Council CEO Jen Walling.