May 14, 2008

POWER would like to publicly thank the 22 Kankakee County board members who voted yes to go forward with the legal battle against the proposed Fred Barbara and Tom Volini garbage dump near Minnie Creek which dumps directly into the river upstream from the Aqua Illinois water intake pipe. This proposal would literally dump garbage directly into the deep aquifer by blasting out several feet of bedrock to form the base of a 200 feet high mountain of garbage. The IEPA refused to stop this travesty after they were pressured by a Cook County lobbyists, Larry Suffredin hired by Barbara and Volini, all politically connected to Mayor Daley and Governor Blagojevich.

Action by the Kankakee County Board was needed because the Appellate Court decided to reverse their 2006 decision against this proposal thereby allowing it to go forward. This was the case sponsored by POWER through Mr. Byron Sandberg with the help of local retired attorney Ed Vogt. The County also argued their own case at the Appellate Court at the same time which resulted in the County'ss landfill attorney and Mr. Vogt supporting each other's case against the proposed dump. At this point the Appellate Court has failed to rule on the issues the County's attorney argued.

Sadly County Board members Kelly McLaren and Karen Campbell voted No and therefore support the dumping of garbage directly into the deep aquifer next to Minnie Creek. They have consistently supported this dump proposal. Karen Campbell is a City of Kankakee employee and should have abstained from voting on this issue because of her conflict of interest. Kelly McLaren is running for Recorder of Deeds this coming November and is seeking local Union Bosses support. Local Union Bosses have been huge supporters of the Fred Barbara/Tom Volini dump.

Watch the Attorneys and the Kankakee County Board discuss the County's legal battle to stop the Fred Barbara/Tom Volini proposed garbage dump which is backed by City of Kankakee Mayor Green and local Union bosses.

Click to view video

Garbage-To-Ethanol Plants Are Being Built Elsewhere. Why Not Here?

May 1, 2008

Please click on this link http://www.brightcove.tv/search.jsp?query=coskata It will take you to some very informative short video clips on Coskata, Inc. www.coskata.com. This is the company General Motors is in partnership with in Warrenville, Illinois which is building garbage-to-ethanol plants. Warrenville is near Aurora. They are planning to build these plants on a global basis. There is no reason why we can't get one here.

Even if Mayor Green and Barbara -Volini win their dump, it will be cheaper to process garbage into ethanol then dumping it. Don't forget all the jobs that these plants create.

Lake County Indian projects a savings of $12,000,000 per year in garbage removal costs for their County with the building of two garbage-to-ethanol plants by two other companies within their county and the creation of 250 jobs and hundreds more in construction jobs. See article here http://www.nwi.com/articles/2008/03/21/news/lake_county/doc1a0efe9ecdc9fbe086257413000d5e12.txt

Why can't this be done here? If City of Kankakee Mayor Green and our Kankakee County economic development leaders made the same effort to get a garbage-to-ethanol plant as they have for garbage dumps, it would happen!

POWER Fundraiser A Success!

February 11, 2008

Protect Our Water, Environment, and River (POWER) wishes to thank the 60 attendees and 24 local merchants or donors who helped make our February 10 Valentine's Dinner, Dance, and Silent Auction a truly elegant evening and a smashing success.

We extend our gratitude to: Andrea Taylor and Family, AnteUP Productions, Applebee's Restaurant, Aurelio's Pizzeria, Brickstone Brewery and Restaurant, Car Care Auto Center, Cracker Barrel Restaurant, Fifth Avenue Car Wash, Groucho's Coffee Cafe, Jeff Jarvis and Family, Hampton Inn, King Music, Love Shop, Oberweis Dairy (Happy Cows LLC), Paramount and Meadowview Theatres, Papa John's Pizza, Romer's Bakery/A Piece of Cake, Skinney's Pizza, TGIFriday's Restaurant, The Chicago Dough Company, Tholen's Landscape and Garden Center, TrendSetters College of Cosmetology, TriStar Martial Arts Academy, and Village Home Furnishings. Thank you for helping protect the water supply and health of Kankakee Valley citizens and the health of the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers against potential toxic leachate from the two proposed landfills.

IPCB AFirms 3-17-04 County Board Decision.

January 24, 2008

Illinois Pollution Control Board affirms the March 17, 2004 decision by the Kankakee County Board denying siting of a 302 acre garbage dump by Waste Management, Inc.

The Board finds that the proceedings before the County were fundamentally fair and Waste Management was not prejudiced by the proceedings. The Board further finds that the County's decision relating to the need for the facility (415 ILCS 5/39.2(a)(i) (2006)), the facility's design to minimize the impact on surrounding property (415 ILCS 5/39.2(a)(iii) (2006)), and the traffic patterns (415 ILCS 5/39.2(a)(vi) (2006)) is not against the manifest weight of the evidence. The Board therefore affirms the County's decision to deny siting for the landfill expansion proposed by Waste Management.

Waste Management has 35 days to appeal this decision against them to the Appellate Court. Click here to view the case details http://www.ipcb.state.il.us/documents/dsweb/Get/Document-59998/

Illinois Pollution Control Board to hear Waste Management's Appeal.

December 7, 2007

The Illinois Pollution Control Board will hear Waste Management's appeal of the 2003 Kankakee County Board rejection of their proposed 302 acre, 200 feet high Chicago regional garbage dump which would be located within walking distance of the river and upstream from the Aqua Illinois water intake pipe.

IPCB will hear the case in Chicago and make a decision by January 24. If Waste Management wins their appeal, under the law, the IPCB would remanded the dump proposal back to the County Board for another vote. In their appeal, Waste Management contends the County board members, who voted No to three of the 9 criteria required by law to win approval, did not base their decision on evidence presented by Waste Management during their garbage dump hearing. Waste Management has been asking for delays since 2003.

This is one of two proposed Chicago regional garbage dumps to be sited in the immediate water shed of the Kankakee and Iroquois Rivers. The other garbage dump is being proposed by Town & Country Utilities owned by Tom Volini and Fred Barbara. Fred Barbara was recently implicated in a Chicago mob trial and according to Chicago newspapers, is a close friend of Chicago Mayor Daily. If both dump proposals happen, a total of 600 acres, 200 feet high in garbage would be dumped by as many as 600 semi-trucks daily.

Tom Volini being sued by the Illinois Attorney General

August 5, 2007

Tom Volini of Town & Country Utilities, developer of the proposed Chicago regional garbage dump with the City of Kankakee, is being sued by the Illinois Attorney General over illegal dumping near his proposed dump site. Pictures obtained by POWER of the illegal dumping of semi-truck loads of construction debris and other garbage were turned over to the IEPA which has resulted in this suit. The case has been filed with the Circuit Court in the Kankakee County Court House. It is scheduled to be heard September 27, 9:00 A.M. room 204. An answer to this case by Mr. Volini is due by August 29.

June 6, 2007

Illinois EPA Hearing To Be Held Wednesday June 13 at 6:00 PM In The KCC Auditorium

This latest proposal must be stopped. Just like his garbage dump proposal, this is in an area that has little or no clay protecting the shallow and deep aquifers from being polluted. It is also in an area that is flood prone. The water table is near the surface. Please click on Expert Reports and read what three independent scientists have to say about the unsuitability of the hydro geology in that area for dumping any garbage because it will result in polluting the river, Mini Creek and the ground aquifers. Water supply for thousands of people and wild life.
Urgent, Please attend this hearing. You will be given the opportunity to speak.

You can also send written comments to

Stephanie Flowers, Hearing Officer (#21)
Re: Kankakee Regional Landfill L.L.C.
Illinois EPA
1021 North Grand Ave. East, P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
Phone: 217-782-5544

Written comments can be sent now and up to 30 days after the hearing date. This means July 13, 2007 is the deadline for written comments.

Thursday March 22, 2007

City of Kankakee/Tom Volini Proposed Chicago Garbage Dump Suffers Major Set Back!

Tom Volini of Town & Country Utilities and the City of Kankakee suffered a blow to their proposed Chicago regional garbage dump today. The Illinois Supreme Court announced their decision to overrule the Appellate Court and to affirm the Pollution Control Board's decision to disallow the proposed Town & Country/City of Kankakee Chicago regional garbage dump because the applicant failed to prove protection of the health and safety of the community.

With this decision, Town & Country's first application for this garbage dump proposal is now stopped. A second application for this dump proposal is currently on appeal with the Appellate Court . A decision by the Appellate Court against Town & Country Utilities would likely end this dump proposal unless Town & Country attempts a third application which would start the whole process over from the beginning with a multi-week hearing conducted by the City of Kankakee.

Supreme Court Summaries

Opinions filed March 22, 2007

Nos. 101619, 101652 cons. Town & Country Utilities, Inc. v. Illinois Pollution Control Board

Appellate citation: No. 3–03–0025 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23).

JUSTICE FITZGERALD delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

Chief Justice Thomas and Justices Freeman, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.

In 2003, the city of Kankakee received an application for a new solid waste landfill, to be located on a site recently annexed to the city. After hearing testimony, the city approved the application, but the county of Kankakee and others objected and appealed to the Pollution Control Board. The Board reversed the city ‘s decision.

Judicial review in such matters is in the appellate court, rather than the circuit court. The appellate court for the Third District reversed the Board’s decision, finding that the result reached at the local level should be deferred to.

On appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, the issue presented was: on judicial review, which body should have its decision subjected to the manifest weight standard--the city or the Board? In the opinion issued today, the supreme court held that the decision to be reviewed is that of the Board. This result is required by statute. The appellate court’s ruling was error on this question.

Evaluating the result reached by the Board, the supreme court held that its decision, rejecting the city’s approval of the landfill application on the basis of the evidence then presented, was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. The appellate court was reversed.

Monday, November 20, 2006

POWER Beats Volini/City of Kankakee In The Appellate Court

Friday March 03, 2006
POWER has received word by mail the IEPA has granted a permit to Tom Volini/ City of Kankakee to go ahead and start construction of the infrastructure for their Chicago regional garbage dump. They have not been granted a permit to dump any garbage at this time. If they do get the permit to dump garbage (this is a big if because of the legal cases they have to beat including the POWER/OUTRAGE supported case), they will be piling it over 200 feet high by first digging through the shallow aquifer into the primary deep aquifer. This dump will dig into and remove several feet of bedrock believe it or not.

We feel this was a political decision hurried up because of legislation recently introduced in Springfield to stop landfills from being sited within 6 miles from an airport. This dump will be less then three miles from the Kankakee Airport. They also needed to get this done before the election while Governor Blagojevich. is still in office. Tom Volini and his partner Fred Barbara have ties to Mayor Daily and Governor. Blagojevich. The Chicago papers did several articles on Fred Barbara and his connection to organized crime, the trucking scandal and Mayor Daily.


The IEPA completely ignored two top notch scientists, Stu Cravens and Dr. G. Fred Lee both of whom, based on the science of the area, filed opinions with the IEPA stating this dump is based on junk science and will ultimately pollute the ground water and river with garbage leachate. Dr. G. Fred Lee suggests we go to Federal Court. He also says a landfill with this design is illegal in many states.

The fight is not over, we may go to Federal Court. In addition we have a case at the Appellate Court and the County has a case, if they accept it, at the Illinois Supreme Court.

When this garbage dump leachate pollutes the water supply, Volini's company will likely file bankruptcy and the taxpayers of the city of Kankakee will be responsible for the clean up and water rates will go sky high to make Kankakee river water drinkable. Such a deal.

POWER urges area citizens to write or call our State Legislators to push for immediate passage of Senate Bill 2501 and its companion House Bill 5515. Sponsored by State Senator Steve Forby and State Representative Richard Bradley. This bill would immediately outlaw the construction of landfills within a six (6) mile radius of any general aviation airport.

Such a restriction would have killed the Volini dump if the IEPA hadn't already issued a permit for it but it is not too late to get this Bill passed to kill the County/Waste Management Chicago regional Landfill proposals as it is also about three miles from the Kankakee Airport and is not currently being considered by the IEPA. The prohibition will take effect immediately after passage of the Bill and prohibit any municipality or county from approving a request for siting a landfill within a 6 mile radius of an airport. It will also prohibit the IEPA from issuing a permit for a landfill situated inside the six mile radius.

State Senator Debbie Halvorson: 241 W. Joe Orr Rd. Chicago Heights, 60411 (708) 756-0882

State Senator Gary Dahl: 103 Fifth St., P. O. Box 260 Peru, 61354 (815) 220-8720

State Representative Lisa Dugan: 135 S. Schuyler Ave. Kankakee 60901 (815) 939-1983

State Representative Careen Gordon: 760 E. Division Coal City 60416 (815) 634-3096

Urge them to call the bills to the Senate and House Floors for immediate passage.

Please get the word out to your friends and neighbors in the Kankakee area.

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