PEORIA -- Here's a news release from the Heart of Illinois Sierra Club and others about the Industry Mine near Macomb and a mining proposal near Canton:
Clean Water Advocates Applaud Attorney General Lisa Madigan
For
Taking Action on Mine Water Pollution
Citizen groups are applauding Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan today for taking strong action to address repeated violations of clean water laws by the Industry Mine, McDonough County.
The Attorney General's Office has filed a water enforcement complaint with the Illinois Pollution Control Board, asking for an order that will include monetary penalties to the mine. The Attorney General lists pages of mine discharges exceeding permit levels for the pollutants iron, manganese, sulfates, pH, and total suspended solids. Freeman United Coal Company and Springfield Coal Company are named in the action.
"We are very grateful that the Attorney General has taken action to protect our water," says Brenda Dilts, a leader with the Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues group. "The action by Attorney General Madigan and her staff gives us hope that our clean water laws will be enforced and that our government will protect our health from companies that violate the law."
Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center are preparing to intervene in the Pollution Control Board case in support of the Attorney General. The groups sent a notice of intent to sue letter in December 2009 regarding the mine's violations.
"This coal strip mine is located southwest of Macomb, and has over 300 water permit violations polluting area streams since 2004. The mine discharges into Grindstone Creek, a beautiful Illinois stream with a historic heron rookery and a maternity roost tree of federally endangered Indiana Bats," said Joyce Blumenshine, Mining Issues Committee Chair of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter. "We thank Lisa Madigan and her team for acting to protect our water supply and our wildlife."
"We are pleased that the Attorney General has responded to our concerns and is moving to put an end to years of flagrant permit violations and water pollution at this mine. Prairie Rivers Network and its partners will seek to ensure that environmental harms are adequately compensated and that future operation of the mine is safe and lawful," commented Kim Knowles, Water Resources Specialist, Prairie Rivers Network.
Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues Group leader Brenda Dilts sees the action taken by the Attorney General as having great significance for her community. "The engineer for a coal mine being planned north of Canton is also involved with the Industry Mine with all these water permit violations. How can anyone believe the mine company when it says no pollution will go into Canton Lake, our main public water supply, when years of pollution have been going on at the Industry Mine?" asked Dilts. ###
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