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A local solution to superfund clean‐up: The southeast rockford site
Author(s) -
Morrissette Peggy
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
remediation journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6831
pISSN - 1051-5658
DOI - 10.1002/rem.3440090303
Subject(s) - superfund , settlement (finance) , agency (philosophy) , negotiation , business , environmental planning , public administration , finance , environmental protection , engineering , political science , law , geography , waste management , hazardous waste , sociology , social science , payment
On January 13, 1999 a consent decree was signed for the first community settlement ever successfully negotiated for a Superfund site. The 10‐square mile groundwater study zone in Rockford, Illinois, is only 20 percent of the area of the city, but represents 60 percent of its industrial capacity. Local government and business leaders took the initiative to negotiate a community‐based settlement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and find financing mechanisms that citizens could back. Rockford dodged the Superfund bullet that has ripped apart so many other communities as bank loans dry up, development ceases, local taxes plunge along with property values, the local economy stagnates, and neighbor is pitted against neighbor in a litigation war.