Chemical seepage taints soil, believed to have harmed residents

A former manufactured gas plant at the corner of Fifth and Hill streets in Champaign has led to chemical seepage into surrounding neighborhood soil, turning the area into a toxic site.

Since 1953, the gas plant has been inactive but recently the area is believed to have negatively affected neighboring residents' health as well as the environment, said Aaron Ammons, a member of the Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice, during a community meeting Saturday at the Douglass Branch Library in Champaign.

The meeting was organized by the Champaign County Health Care Consumers, Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice and the University Department of Urban & Regional Planning. The groups said they are launching the Fifth and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign, a joint effort between the three sponsoring groups to get the area cleaned up. The campaign will be launched as a response to increased information about the toxic site and its effects.

Previously owned by Ameren Illinois Power, the plant produced gas from coal or oil, in addition to chemical by-products such as cyanide benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene and coal tar.

Ammons said Ameren and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have known that the site was toxic since 1987, yet it still has not been cleaned up.

Despite these issues, Ameren maintains that there is "no immediate danger" to the people.

However, residents say long-term exposure to chemicals found at the site is having effects on some who live in the area.

A small cancer cluster has been discovered in the neighborhood including two cases of multiple myeloma, a- type of blood cancer, within residents living across the street from one another.

Multiple myeloma is usually only found in four out of 1,000 people, said Claudia Lennhoff, executive director of the Champaign County Health Care Consumers. However, long-term exposure to benzene has been known to cause leukemia and other blood cancers.

"Two cases on the same street is an anomaly," said Chuck Allen, a University employee within the department of Urban and Regional Planning.

"It would have been normal to have one case in the (Fifth and Hill) neighborhood and one in Rantoul."

The chemical benzene has contaminated the groundwater, Ammons said, which no one in the Fifth and Hill Street area is allowed to use.

"These are human beings being exposed here," said Robert Walker, a Champaign resident.

Walker is also a host on a weekly radio show on 90.1 WEFT and has been working and investigating for 20 years to expose the problems at the toxic site.

Community and group members have gone through the federal government and used the Freedom of Information Act to gain records and documents regarding the Fifth and Hill site because Ameren has not provided any information until recently.

Documents detailing the environmental damage and possible health problems arrived at the Douglass Branch Library last week.

"It's not just about cleaning up the land, it's about taking care of people and their health," Lennhoff said, adding that the Champaign County Health Care Consumers want to raise awareness about the site and will talk to families with concerns or who believe they may have been negatively affected by the toxic site.

Citizens and community members present at Saturday's meeting said they will be going to Champaign City Council meetings in the future to speak about the site.

"Our overall objective is to ask questions and get answers," Ammons said.

"We may not know everything right now, but we want to organize and create more informed citizens."