State sues petcoke storage company over spills

摘要

Illinois regulators filed suit yesterday against a company storing petroleum coke on Chicago's Southeast Side, alleging that in trying to prevent one environmental problem, the company created another. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan contends that KCBX Terminals Inc. allowed runoff water contaminated with petroleum coke to spill into the Calumet River. The company began spraying the petroleum coke piles from giant sprinklers in an attempt to prevent air pollution that was the subject of complaints in the city. In doing so, the company violated water quality and open dumping laws, the suit alleges. Inspectors visiting the site last year found that the company had used sandbags to separate the petcoke piles from the river, but several of them were missing or out of place.