Midwest Generation, an Illinois power company near Chicago, currently sits on a big pile of sand it wants to sell to area road builders. The first problem is that the facility’s sand box is filled with asbestos because of the old Johns Manville factory next door that made asbestos pipe and shingles for 60 years. The other problem is that the power plant is awfully close to a city beach on Lake Michigan where locals like to swim and, well, play in the sand. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is therefore concerned about the power plant’s efforts literally to sift through the contaminated sand to remove chunks of the asbestos pipe and shingles. Asbestos is hazardous when released into the air because its fibers may be inhaled and lodge in the lungs, causing asbestosis, lung cancer, or mesothelioma, a rare, but deadly, cancer.
The agency gave Midwest Generation a permit to sort through the sand, but was nevertheless worried about blowing asbestos fibers into surrounding neighborhoods. As a result, the Illinois EPA required the power plant to observe safety precautions that include covering the sifting operation with a tent and using a fan to pull the tented air through a filter to screen out the asbestos fibers. The filtered air is then to be blown back outside of the tent, and Midwest Generation is supposed to test the outside air every day. The Illinois EPA did not require the power plant to inform the public since the asbestos sifting project is only in testing mode. If it turns out that the asbestos can be removed and that the remediated sand can be sold to road builders, then Midwest Generation would be forced to take the additional precaution of telling local residents. Indeed, Waukegan’s mayor, Richard Hyde, said even he didn’t know about the asbestos sifting operation until a journalist alerted him to it.
For the full story, go to the Chicago Tribune.
