PEORIA -- The Illinois Pollution Control board has sided with the Peoria County Board in its rejection last year of the expansion of the hazardous waste landfill at Pottstown, on the edge of Peoria.
In a 39-page opinion, the PCB stated the board's decision was fair and not against the "manifest weight of the evidence."
Landfill owner Peoria Disposal Co. is expected to appeal an adverse decision from the PCB to the 3rd District Illinois Appellate Court.
Two hundred thirty eight written comments were filed backing the County Board's decision, the PCB stated. It's opinion was 4-0.
The opinion offers an elaborate and detailed analysis of the evidence, and concludes that the County Board's decision was fair on every objection it offered to the landfill expansion.
PDC has also offered an alternative plan that would allow limited expansion, with modifications to its existing operating permit. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will rule on that plan.
Opposition groups at first vigorously opposed the expansion. The PCB relied on testimony of opposition expert Charles Norris in reaching its conclusion.
But in February, the opposition splintered as some group members offered a compromise proposal that would have allowed expansion in return for concessions from PDC.
Negotiations began with county officials, but the opposition groups backed out when the negotiations drifted away from conditions they found acceptable, and some of their members raised serious objections to undercutting the board's original decision.
--Elaine Hopkins
.
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