Continuing our countdown of new Illinois environmental laws taking effect on January 1, 2016 is Public Act 99-0365, which requires that waste from the remediation of a manufactured gas plant site must be disposed in a permitted hazardous waste disposal site, unless analysis demonstrates that the waste does not exceed regulatory levels.

Manufactured gas plants (“MPGs”) operated to provide gas from coal or oil.  The gas manufacturing and purification processes produced by-products and residues that included tars, sludges, and light oils. The residues contained Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, cyanide, metals and phenols.  Typically, soil, groundwater, and nearby sediment can be contaminated.  The wastes contain a number of known and suspected cancer-causing agents and other potentially hazardous chemicals.  Wastes containing these hazardous chemicals are generated during the environmental cleanup of sites upon which manufactured gas plants formerly operated.

The new law amends the Illinois Environmental Protection Act by adding Section 22.40a, 415 ILCS 5/22.40a, which now requires that MPG remediation waste must be disposed in a permitted hazardous waste disposal site. The only exception to this requirement is when scientific analysis confirms that the waste does not exceed regulatory levels for certain toxic chemicals found in U.S Environmental Protection Agency regulations.