Landfill Gives Up Storing Toxic Waste Over Illinois Aquifer

CLINTON, Ill. (AP) — A company that for years has planned to store toxic PCBs in a landfill sitting atop a central Illinois aquifer now says it’s giving up the idea.

The Pantagraph  reports Peoria-based Area Disposal had tried since 2007 to get state and federal permits to store PCBs at its Clinton Landfill. But an attorney for the company says it’s “closing that chapter.”

Last year, the state barred the dumping of PCBs in the Clinton Landfill, and a permit request was ignored by federal authorities.

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are chemical compounds once used in products such as paints and fluorescent lights. They were banned in 1979 after it was found they can cause cancer and damage to nervous and reproductive systems.

The DeWitt County Board will consider Thursday a settlement with the company to restore roughly $1 million in payments made to the county by landfill owners.

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