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90_HR0479
LRB9012177ACsb
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The United States Army has stated that 60,000
3 gallons of hazardous waste, including World War II-era nerve
4 gas, will be shipped from Johnston Island in the Pacific
5 Ocean to an incinerator in Sauget, Illinois, owned by Trade
6 Waste Incineration, a privately run operation; and
7 WHEREAS, Sauget, Illinois, is an industrial area with a
8 population of 195 located in the East St. Louis area; and
9 WHEREAS, The Army held a public hearing to explain the
10 plan in Honolulu on April 21, 1998, but no such hearing was
11 held in Sauget or anywhere in the continental United States;
12 and
13 WHEREAS, The reason that the Army wishes to hasten
14 disposal is that the 250 oversize metal drums in which the
15 waste is stored are deteriorating; the waste will be
16 transferred to about ten 6,000-gallon steel containers for
17 the journey; and
18 WHEREAS, Tests have shown that about half of the drums
19 contain heavy metals: arsenic in concentrations as high as
20 7,800 parts per million, mercury as high as 427 parts per
21 million, and lesser concentrations of lead, chromium, and
22 cadmium; nerve agents such as sarin, VX, and mustard gas were
23 also recorded in seven of the drums; and
24 WHEREAS, Trade Waste Incineration has run afoul of
25 regulations in the past and has been penalized millions of
26 dollars for storing waste without proper permits and emitting
27 air pollution; and
28 WHEREAS, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is
29 deciding whether to grant a request by the Army to cut short
30 the public comment period scheduled to run until June;
31 therefore be it
-2- LRB9012177ACsb
1 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
2 NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
3 there is created the Sauget Incineration Committee consisting
4 of 5 members of the House of Representatives, 3 members of
5 which will be appointed by the Speaker of the House and 2
6 members appointed by the Minority Leader of the House, all of
7 whom shall serve without compensation; and be it further
8 RESOLVED, That the Committee shall meet initially at the
9 call of the Speaker, shall select one member as chairperson
10 at its initial meeting, shall thereafter meet at the call of
11 the chairperson, shall hold public hearings, shall receive
12 the assistance of the legislative staff, and shall report its
13 findings and recommendations concerning the hazardous waste
14 disposal in Sauget to the House of Representatives by filing
15 copies of its report with the Clerk of the House on or before
16 July 1, 1998; and that upon filing its report the Committee
17 is dissolved; and be it further
18 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
19 delivered to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the
20 Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Director
21 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and the
22 Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.