Metro East environmental justice push making sure Illinois EPA has a first-hand view

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (First Alert 4) - United Congregations of Metro East and residents hosted the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday night to plan how to get results on long-standing environmental issues, from sewage backup to contaminated land.

It’s a continuation of the Toxic Tour Conversation that took place in June.

One attendee said, “What are you going to do to help take care of all citizens? Not just Cahokia Heights, East St. Louis, but all of us in this area that are underrepresented, that are going through what we’re going through, should not be going through and dealing with what we’re dealing with now that affects our quality of life and the air we breathe, and the water we take in.”

Rebecca Take, who lives in Caseyville, went Thursday night to ask the Illinois EPA questions directly. She said she’s been taking on an illegal open dump for eight years.

“For years, I’ve been dealing with an environmental concern in my own neighborhood,” Take said.

Take said she has dealt with the Illinois EPA and the village of Caseyville to try to get the site cleaned up. She said there have been lawsuits.

“I’ve had trash washed into my yard from this hillside,” Take said. “We still, no matter how hard you contact the EPA, the local government, nothing is getting remediated. Nothing is getting done. There are tons of agreements and resolutions on paper, and nothing gets resolved.”

Addressing environmental concerns in the Metro East is a focus of United Congregations of Metro East and a group of residents. Part of the group’s mission is bringing the Illinois EPA to the area.

“We’re excited at this moment that the Illinois EPA has heard us and has committed to having ongoing conversations with these communities. We really don’t have the funds, the tax base, to address the problems that we’ve been left with. And so that’s how we got here. We appreciate the Illinois EPA and the communities who’ve come together to speak with one voice about these serious issues,” said Larry Evans, United Congregations of Metro East board president.

He added, “The industrial communities of this area, Madison and St. Clair County, in the 40s and 50s did very well. Cities could afford infrastructure. When the factories left, they left towns behind with expensive infrastructure and no tax base.”

Evans said that in June, the group joined residents for a “Toxic Tour.” The tour took Illinois EPA officials to several priority locations in East St. Louis, Cahokia Heights, Washington Park, Caseyville and Sauget. The stops highlighted where aging infrastructure leads to sewage backing up when it floods, where industrial sites have caused contamination and air pollution.

Signs at Frank Holten State Park warn people not to swim, boat or fish because of potential sewage discharge.

Evans said, “I’m hoping to see some more funds from somebody because we just, the citizens here and the communities just don’t have the money to do it. So yes, we would expect the state, state participation and also federal. Those two entities are going to have to be involved in solving this problem for these communities.”

Illinois EPA Director James Jennings said the tour helped the agency learn about issues.

“Identify issues that maybe at the local level weren’t coming to us or issues that were not really fitting neatly within one of our reporting mechanisms,” Jennings said. “That enabled us to do things like pursue an enforcement action.”

Jennings updated attendees Thursday on what the agency has done since then. He cited funding, staffing and the Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy, which looks at how to achieve community-driven results.

Jennings said, “That was something that we had recently finalized prior to that meeting and since then have very directly applied here through a handful of actions, that absent that strategy, would have proceeded very differently historically.”

Evans said water is a particular issue they’re fighting to see addressed, not just because of the issues with sewage and flooding, but also concerns about the quality of drinking water.

Jennings said they’re putting a focus on Cahokia Heights to address the long-time sewage concerns.

“We have a firm commitment to making sure that we’re putting a direct investment, both in terms of actual resources, but also time, to communities across the state. Recognizing that all these communities have different needs and different environmental impacts. Something that was evident from the work we had already done, but that was further highlighted by the tour this summer, was that there were things that weren’t necessarily coming all the way to our attention,” Jennings said.

“It was important that both we address those, but also create a framework through which we can continue to ensure that we have a presence in the community and that we’re directly addressing the actual needs as opposed to perhaps what we may suppose are the needs based off of broader agency history,” added Jennings.

The Illinois EPA plans to hold a community meeting each quarter with Metro East communities. At the meetings, the agency will update the community and answer questions.

“While this is a decades-long issue that affects communities like this area, it cannot be a decades-long solution. That’s something that we are directly committed to trying to address as expeditiously as possible,” Jennings said.

Evans said, “We’re grateful and excited about continuing these conversations. Because if you don’t talk about the problem and consider the problem, you won’t solve the problem.”

Take said she hopes a solution comes soon to what she’s faced.

“It’s a nightmare,” Take said. “And, you know, it’s bad enough if it’s in your community. This is in my backyard.”

United Congregations of Metro East presented four requests to the Illinois EPA. They revolve around community input and making information more publicly available:

• Create a Metro East community council with formal input into enforcement and permitting decisions.
• Publicly report the status of Veolia’s permits and compliance record.
• Provide a remediation timeline for the Cahokia Heights sewer crisis.
• Make health data more accessible and legible to affected communities.