Illinois Attorney General takes swift, tough action against KCBX, petcoke polluter. chicagotribune/news/local/breaking/chi-ill-attorney-general-suing-over-mounds-of-refinery-waste-20131104,0,181494.story chicagotribune Ill. attorney general suing over mounds of refinery waste By Michael Hawthorne Tribune reporter 3:45 PM CST, November 4, 2013 Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is suing one of the companies piling up huge mounds of refinery waste on Chicago’s Southeast Side, increasing the legal pressure to stop black clouds of dust from blowing into surrounding neighborhoods. In a complaint filed today in Cook County Circuit Court, Madigan accused KCBX Terminals of repeatedly violating state law by allowing lung-damaging particulate matter to swirl off piles of petroleum coke and coal along the Calumet River. The lawsuit follows months of complaints from residents in the East Side and South Deering neighborhoods who say the noxious clouds often are so thick they are forced to stay inside with their windows closed. “The piles of refinery waste at this site are growing by the day without the appropriate protections to ensure nearby residents’ health and safety,” Madigan said in a statement. “It’s critical that KCBX quickly installs safeguards to protect the surrounding community.” Madigan is asking the court to order KCBX to immediately tamp down the dust. She also is seeking fines of $50,000 for every violation of state law and $10,000 for every day the company continues to violate the law. All of the petroleum coke from a nearby BP refinery is stored by KCBX, a company controlled by the wealthy industrialists Charles and David Koch. KCBX owns two sites along the Calumet River, one along 100th Street just south of the Chicago Skyway bridge and the other along Burley Avenue between 108th and 111th Streets. BP is completing work on new equipment that will turn its Whiting refinery on Lake Michigan into the world’s second largest source of petroleum coke, also known as petcoke. BP expects to produce more than 2.2 million tons a year at Whiting, up from about 700,000 tons before the refinery was overhauled to process oil from the tar sands region of Alberta. Other Koch companies sell high-carbon, high-sulfur petcoke for use as industrial fuel, often in countries with more lenient environmental laws. The largest independent petcoke marketer in the U.S., Oxbow Corp., is owned by William Koch, brother of Charles and David. Since the Tribune and other local media drew attention to the dust problems last month, state and federal officials have stepped up their investigations of KCBX and Beemsterboer Slag Co., a Hammond-based company that owns a third storage terminal on the Calumet River at 106th Street. Madigan’s lawsuit comes less than two weeks after the Illinois EPA filed a similar complaint accusing Beemsterboer of violating anti-pollution laws. Five residents of the East Side neighborhood sued the two companies independently last week. KCBX could not be reached for comment. In a statement last month, a spokesman said the company is spending more than $10 million to upgrade its facilities, including improvements to its “dust-suppression capabilities.” mhawthorne@tribune Twitter @scribeguy Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 00:06:25 +0000