South Cook News

Village of Lemont Environmental Advisory Commission met Aug. 21

Here are the minutes provided by the commission:

Attendees: B. Reinke, C. Albrecht, E. Carusiello, J. Weigard, J. Gawle, and B. Peters. Excused: T. Ballard.

Absent: M. Nichols. Nine Lemont residents attended the meeting.

In Memoriam: Pastor Glenn Bergmark

Village directive: The Village responded to the LEAC regarding guidance and expectations for the Commission moving forward. The Municipal Code Chapter 2.36 was reviewed by the LEAC. The LEAC members feel that the code accurately describes the LEAC’s role in the Village of Lemont. The commission members would like additional guidance from the Village if it would like to modify the purpose of the LEAC.

We welcome Village representatives to attend our meetings.

#6061 - Form R Reports and Tier II Reports: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided the final toxic release inventory (TRI) database through 2023 for the U.S., including Illinois. Brian Reinke provided a summary of chemical releases for Lemont, Lockport, and Romeoville as well as a maximum inventory of chemicals stored. The local industrial representatives are to be contacted in the near future to review and discuss the past year reports. The EPA provided a screening methodology document for releases for fence line communities.

The data analysis now includes new Risk Screening Environmental Indicator (RSEI) metrics from the EPA. These will help assess the potential dangers posed by specific chemicals present at companies reporting releases within the Village area. This information will allow meaningful discussions with stakeholders to try to improve safeguards and reduce emissions. The RSEI metrics will provide useful insight for ongoing analysis.

#6076 – NRG Energy (Will County Generating Station): (Updated August 2025) According to the NRG plant manager, Will County Generating Station operations were shut down in 2022 and are in the process of decommissioning. The asbestos abatement for the facility has started prior to the demolition. Once the plant has been decommissioned, NRG is considering installing large, industrial-scale battery storage systems on the property and connecting them to the electric grid.

#6107 – BP LUST Incident (#20060901/LPC#0311620022): (Updated August 2025)

▪ An Amended Corrective Action Plan (CAP) was approved by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) in November 2022. The additional investigation included the installation of new monitoring wells, which were sampled in December 2023. The results indicate the groundwater has been delineated to the north.

▪ A Status Update Report was submitted to the IEPA in August 2024. The report detailed the results of the most recent groundwater and soil sampling events conducted at the site. The IEPA indicated that the report is under review and will be posted to the IEPA website once complete.

#6118 – Waste Management (WM) At Your Door Program (www.wmatyourdoor.com): For the July 2025 reporting period, a total of 2,833.86 pounds of material was collected (97.2% was recycled).

#6133 – Brownfield’s Site – Athen’s Park (LPC# 0311620010): (Updated April 2025) The Lemont Park District has obtained a 50-year lease from the Chicago MWRD for this Brownfields property. The project includes the following:

▪ The site totals 27 acres, with Carlson Environmental as the environmental consultant working under the IEPA’s Site Remediation Program (PM - Andrew Catlin) towards a limited no further remediation (NFR) letter for portions of the property.

▪ There are three elements to the remediation: soils; deep wells; and free product wells. The soils will be addressed with approximately 10% requiring remediation and/or a cap. The IEPA approved the Tier 3 exclusion for the shallow monitoring wells (20-25’). The free product will be removed from monitoring wells.

▪ Project is moving along as a new playground, pavilions, and performance stage have been installed and wetlands have been planted. They have prepared the parking lot and paths as well as the access roadway from Stephen Street.

▪ A formal dedication and grand opening are scheduled for Fall 2025.

#6134 – OAN: There were three (3) odor complaints received during July 2025. All complaints with sufficient information have been included in our Odor Incident Tracking database.

The Village of Lemont website has a new Odor Alert Network page that includes the Odor Reporting Procedure, with the IEPA link and OAN email link for reporting odors. The complaints should be submitted to the OAN in order to track the information. Odor complaints can be submitted via the following methods:

1. OAN email box at OAN@lemont.il.us (forwarded to Tom Ballard and Brian Reinke)

2. Tom Ballard (LEMA)

3. Lemont Fire Department

The complaint should include the date, time, location, and description of odor at a minimum. Please still call 911 in case of an emergency.

Numerous conversations have been held with the IEPA Air Division regarding future reporting of odor incidents. To ensure that complaints are investigated, all complaints (air, land, water, public drinking water) should be submitted to the IEPA at the following: https://epa.illinois.gov/pollutioncomplaint/submit-a-complaint.html.

Brian Reinke has invested time and resources from his company, TDI Consulting Inc., to develop an incident tracking and analysis system for the Village and OAN to use free of charge. The goal is to increase awareness of odor complaint issues and help identify potential sources of the odors being reported. Inputs to the system include data from resident call logs, weather station data (at 5-minute increments), OAN reports / resolutions and events that may have been associated with odors that have been observed. Access to this system will be tightly controlled, to respect privacy and other concerns of residents and the Village.

The OAN utilizes data from the weather station located at the Lemont Township Building on 127th Street.

The weather station provides real-time weather data as well as a long-term archive of weather readings from the weather station. This information is available for anyone interested at:

https://www.tdi-energysolutions.com/environmental-services

#6135 – Guide to Year-Round Recycling:

1. Village of Lemont Household Special Waste Program

The Village of Lemont, through Waste Management, offers a collection service for residents to dispose of household special waste materials. See the Village of Lemont Garbage and Recycling Services and At Your Door Special Collection Service information for scheduling a pickup.

https://www.lemont.il.us/departments/administration/garbage-recycling-services

General information about Waste Managements at Your Door Collection Service is available on their website.

www.wmatyourdoor.com

2. Household Hazardous Waste

The Naperville Household Hazardous Waste Facility is located at 156 Fort Hill Drive. The facility is available to all residents of Illinois and open every Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 2pm. No appointment is necessary, and there is no fee for using the facility.

https://www.naperville.il.us/services/garbage-and-recycling/household-hazardous-waste-facility

3. Electronics Recycling

Naperville Electronics Recycling is also located at 156 Fort Hill Drive and is open to residents Monday - Friday from 7am to 3pm. A fee is charged for all TVs, CRTs, flat screens, and monitors.

https://www.naperville.il.us/services/garbage-and-recycling/electronics-recycling

Will County has a FREE Electronic Drop-Off Program at multiple locations, including Bolingbrook and Lockport. An ID is required to prove Will County area residency.

https://www.willcountygreen.com/greenguide/electronic.aspx

Goodwill Industries is a Dell Reconnect Donation Site for electronics recycling (no TVs), located at 1146 State Street in Lemont. Hours are Monday - Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm and Sunday from 10am to 8pm.

4. General Recycling

Will County has a Green Guide Database on how to recycle or reuse just about everything.

http://www.willcountygreen.com/recycling_centers.aspx

Earth911 helps find local recycling centers for various recyclable materials. Search for a recycling solution below.

https://search.earth911.com/

#6136 – 2025 Recycling Events:

The Fall 2025 Recycling Event is scheduled for September 20, 2025. A flier has been distributed to Village residents with their water bill.

#6137 – Lemont’s Trees and Plants: The LEAC is looking for an annual budget of $3,500 to initiate a tree planting program starting in 2025. The LEAC is looking at funding options for this project. Options include the Village of Lemont, the ComEd Tree Program (deadline), the MWRD Tree Program, CITGO (deadline), and Waste Management sponsorship as part of their community outreach program. A grant application was resubmitted to ComEd. The LEAC may have an opportunity to use the space behind the library as an option to house any trees for the future tree propagation program.

The Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Botanical Garden have a seed collection project that the LEAC may be able to utilize in the future.

MWRD will be donating and delivering 50 trees prior to September 20th to support the LEAC Tree Planting/Giveaway program. Five (5) varieties of oak trees in one-gallon pots will be handed out at the Fall Recycling Event. LEAC will provide educational materials. 

The Garden Club is planning a Fall Fest on October 11th at the Lemont Park District from 3-7. This is an opportunity to hand out some perennials and more next year.

#6138 – Community Action Emergency Response (CAER) Meeting Summary: These meetings are held by CITGO and are intended to provide important updates on activities at the CITGO facility for local area first responders.

LEAC members attended the quarterly CAER meeting held June 25, 2025. The USEPA/IEPA completed a joint perimeter community evaluation. There were no concerns identified. This was completed due to community emissions concerns.

There is a small turnaround scheduled for Fall 2025, with a major turnaround scheduled for Spring 2026, with the schedule dependent on canal access.

#6139 – Community Communications: The Lemont Recycle Event Participants directory was updated to include local organization contacts that can assist with community notifications and advertising for future Recycling events.

The LEAC is working with the Village to update Village website page(s) for LEAC. The proposed Web page content (below) is under review by the Village:

• Meetings

• Agendas & Minutes

• Members

• LEAC Purpose

• History

• Annual Recycling Event

• Lemont Weather Station

• Odor Alert Network

• Village of Lemont - At Your Door Collection Summary

• Guide to Year-Round Recycling

Sign up for Village updates at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/ILLEMONT/subscriber/new

#6140 – Lemont Alerts: Lemont Alerts is a system that you sign up to receive notifications about imminent threats to health and safety, as well as informational notifications that affect your locations or work environments. Notifications are sent regarding severe weather, flooding, road closures, police activity and more. Sign up for alerts at Lemont Alerts on the Village website.

#6141 – Controlled Burns: No notifications have been received in the past few months.

#6142 – Community Concerns:

#6142.1 - Lemont Well Water Quality

Residents had concerns regarding the water quality, specifically arsenic and radium. They have obtained information from alternate sources that imply elevated data that varies from that available on the Village of Lemont and IEPA websites. LEAC provided handouts from the water department as well as the following information:

• The Village of Lemont currently has six (6) potable water wells: five (5) deep (>1,600 feet) and one (1) shallow for emergency use.

• The water from these wells is combined and treated/filtered prior to distribution.

A copy of the annual water quality report was provided and is also available on the Village website. Water Quality Report | Village of Lemont, IL

Residents can contact the Water Department at (630)257-2532 if there are additional questions or concerns. You can also report a problem to the Public Works by using the "Report A Concern" function online.

#6142.2 CITGO Refinery Environmental Impacts

Residents are concerned with the TRI emissions, particularly benzene, reported by CITGO. LEAC will share these concerns with CITGO and the Village. The IEPA and US EPA oversee compliance with the various regulatory standards. The LEAC is not a regulatory body.

Residents expressed concerns regarding CITGO’s compliance with a consent decree with the EPA in 2016.

CITGO agreed to a civil penalty, performance of environmental projects, and injunctive relief to resolve Clean Air Act violations and violations of CITGO’s global refinery consent decree. The consent decree conditions were met by CITGO to the satisfaction of the EPA and has been closed out.

As part of that agreement, CITGO installed a fence line monitoring system. The system includes monitoring stations to continuously measure benzene, hexane, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) concentrations, along with measurement and recording of meteorological parameters (i.e., wind speed, wind direction, etc.). There are 18 sensors which are summarized with averages per sensor every two weeks. The data for the fence line monitoring program can be reviewed at the following link:

https://awsedap.epa.gov/public/extensions/Fenceline_Monitoring/Fenceline_Monitoring.html?sheet=MonitoringDashboard.

The LEAC would like to have discussions with CITGO, Seneca, and other local industrial facilities to learn if they have emergency response plans that can be shared. There is a concern for a potential major release and proper notifications to the community.

#6142.3 Lemont Road gas station

Residents are concerned with the new gas station planned for 97th Street and Lemont Road. The area has been annexed by the Village of Lemont. The planned volume for the Gas & Wash station is 50,000 gallons per month. They are on private well and septic systems. There is concern for contamination to the groundwater from leaking tanks as well as runoff from surface spills.

#6143 – Air Monitoring Equipment for the Village: The Village has asked the LEAC to research type and cost of equipment needed to monitor potential chemical releases in Lemont. Research has included portable units as well as stationary units. The Village appears to be leaning towards a stationary unit. The sensors would be able to monitor Sulfur Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, 3 sizes of Particulate Matter and 21 other VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). A weather station would be included in each unit to record local wind speed, direction, dew point, etc. The Village is looking at budget options for purchase of one unit for training and evaluation.

The next meeting date is scheduled for Thursday, September 18, 2025, 7:00 PM, at the Lemont Village Hall.

https://lemont.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=lemont_ee89c5ed2c5b57be053777864f7cc307.pdf&view=1