Metro-east residents want to know hazards of incinerator before EPA renews permit

Local residents and community groups attended a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency public meeting Monday evening to provide input on the air permit renewal process for a hazardous waste incineration facility in Sauget that has long been a concern in the surrounding areas.

Veolia ES Technical Solutions operates the facility at 7 Mobile Ave. in Sauget that stores and burns hazardous waste with three incinerators, 25 storage tanks and material processing areas.

For years, residents and local advocacy groups have voiced their worries about what the facility burns, the health effects of the resulting air pollution and whether regulations are strong enough. Those concerns arose again Monday.

Terrance Taylor, vice president of Community Development Sustainable Solutions, said he used to live at “ground zero” of the pollution from the Veolia facility and other nearby plants.

“Those toxic fumes would come down on me. They would wake me from my sleep. It was horrible,” he said. “You couldn’t even go outside and get a breath of fresh air.”

Taylor described the odor as a chemical smell of trash burning with metal in it.

“It kind of burns your nose and it also will have your eyes watering,” he said.

About 12 years ago, Taylor moved further east into Cahokia Heights because he didn’t want his son, who was six months old at the time, growing up in that environment, he said.

Now, he said he’s looking to create a committee of concerned community members, sponsored by Veolia and with U.S. and Illinois EPA liaisons, to give input directly to the company “causing the health problems in our area” and help them stay in compliance.

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A representative from Veolia was present at the meeting but declined to talk to the BND.

The Clean Air Act requires high-polluting facilities like Veolia’s in Sauget to obtain an operating permit. The permit, which needs to be renewed every five years, details how much pollution a facility can emit as well as what pollution controls it must implement.

The permits are usually issued by states and the U.S. EPA provides oversight to ensure states are doing their jobs, Senior Environmental Engineer David Ogulei said during a presentation at Monday’s meeting.

In Veolia’s case, however, the U.S. EPA issues the permit because there were issues about 30 years ago with the facility and the permit the Illinois EPA had issued, leading the U.S. EPA to step in and take over, he said.

The current permit was issued in June 2019 and will expire this July.

The original version of the 2019 permit required Veolia to implement enhanced feedstream analysis procedures to take better stock of what metals it feeds into each incinerator. That version also required Veolia to install multi-metals emissions monitoring devices for arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury on each of its three incinerators.

After Veolia filed a petition challenging the permit and the Trump administration rolled back EPA oversight in the Midwest, however, the multi-metals emissions monitoring requirement was taken off the permit. Veolia did agree to install and operate technology to control mercury emissions on two of its incinerators that did not previously have it.

Dale Wojtkowski, president of the American Bottom Conservancy, said putting the requirement for multi-metals emissions monitoring on Veolia’s renewal permit is his primary ask.

The conservancy was part of the original lawsuit against the Illinois EPA in the early 2000s and also petitioned the EPA’s revised 2019 permit, but that petition was denied.

Wojtkowski said his goal is to get the community engaged and facilitate their involvement.

“I don’t think it’s fair for the people that live around here to put up with this,” he said.

Other concerns cited during Monday’s meeting centered on Veolia’s lack of compliance. In September 2021, the EPA issued a finding that Veolia was violating “various air pollution control regulations,” including its Clean Air Act operating permit.

More specifically, Veolia violated the carbon monoxide emissions standard, indicating “that equipment was not properly destroying the hazardous waste that was fed to it,” according to the EPA. Veolia also failed to operate its equipment within ranges needed for pollution control, allowed storage tanks to leak vapors and passed the allowable limit of nitrogen oxide emissions.

The EPA says it’s working with Veolia to bring it back into compliance, but some at the meeting questioned why the permit would be renewed if the company was found to be violating current regulations.

During his presentation, Ogulei provided an overview of Veolia’s renewal permit application, which he said retains most terms and conditions of the current operating permit. It includes new storage tanks authorized by the Illinois EPA, new operating limits from recent testing, a schedule of compliance for nitrogen oxides emissions and other minor changes.

Ogulei also showed graphs of how much pollution the Veolia facility has released annually from 2018 to 2022. There have been slight upticks in nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds, he noted. Toxic air pollutants were slightly higher in 2022 than in 2021 but lower than in 2018.

Veolia’s pollution is relatively low compared to other facilities the EPA looks at, Ogulei said, but that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant.

He also showed comparisons of Veolia’s 2022 releases with those of nearby plants. Veolia released the most nitrogen oxides, Flexsys the most particulate matter, and Afton the most volatile organic compounds and toxic air pollutants.

What’s next?

Monday’s meeting was likely the first of many the EPA will be holding in the community as the Veolia permit renewal process continues.

During the previous permit renewal, the EPA held a formal public hearing after it had a draft permit.

“This year, we’re doing it a little differently,” Ogulei said.

The EPA held the more conversational meeting Monday after receiving Veolia’s permit renewal application but prior to having a draft permit to learn how community members want to engage in the permitting process and hear their related concerns.

The initial feedback period will end May 15. Then, the EPA has the goal of sharing a “public participation plan” by July 15, Ogulei said.

After that, the EPA will share its draft permit and hold the public hearing and another public comment period before issuing the final permit.

A federal health consultation determining if metal emissions from Veolia’s facility are adversely affecting the surrounding community’s health that U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth requested in 2019 is also expected to be released later this year, according to her office.