Some recyclables would be banned from landfills, and fees for dumping hazardous waste would triple under a package of environmental proposals that Gov. Jim Edgar will push in the General Assembly this spring.
Also included in Edgar`s environmental package are proposals to speed up state implementation of the federal Clean Air Act and to give the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency added power to fine polluters.
Edgar reiterated key points of his environmental package in a speech Saturday in Grant Park, where he helped open Chicago`s 1992 Earth Day celebration. He called it ”a future-focused plan that recognizes the key environmental concerns in Illinois and acts quickly to clear the way for innovative and cost-effective solutions.”
The proposals drew immediate criticism from the state`s chief manufacturing lobby; environmentalists called the package a good start.
The main components of the package would:
– Triple the fees for disposal of hazardous wastes at any of three hazardous-waste dumps or two hazardous-waste incinerators in the state. The revenue would pay to clean up hazardous-waste dumps, such as the Paxton Lagoon chemical dump on the Southeast Side. Cleanup there has been on hold for more than a year since state funds dried up.
– Ban the disposal of some recyclable items, such as aluminum cans, some plastic items and used motor oil, beginning in July 1996 as a way to increase recycling.
– Speed up the introduction of a new fee system for about 3,000 facilities that emit air pollutants. Details of the fees have not been worked out, but such a system is mandated under the 1990 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act.
– Eliminate a requirement that the economic impact of a proposed environmental regulation be studied before the Illinois Pollution Control Board can adopt it. That exemption would apply to some 30 regulations that the state must implement in the next several years to meet requirements of the Clean Air Act.
– Give the Illinois EPA the authority to fine polluters up to $5,000 for each breach of environmental regulations without having to go through state courts or the Pollution Control Board.
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The brunt of the criticism from the Illinois Manufacturers Association fell on the plan to increase hazardous-waste disposal fees. Two years ago, Gov. Jim Thompson proposed a similar increase on the storage of chemicals to fund cleanup of polluted sites, but lobbying by businesses killed the idea.
If the hazardous-waste disposal fee triples, some manufacturers will leave the state or go out of business, said William Dart, senior vice president of the manufacturers association.
A fee increase would be unfair because it would be paid by businesses that obey the law by dumping at approved sites, he said.
”They`re going to come after the good citizens who are not polluting the environment to pay for the people who haven`t followed the law,” Dart said.
”That`s just ethically and politically wrong.”
Dart said the state`s hazardous-waste cleanup effort should be funded out of court fines on polluters.
Kevin Greene of Citizens for a Better Environment said higher disposal fees would be appropriate because businesses that generate hazardous waste impose burdens on the state, which must monitor the disposal sites.
”It would also send a signal to industry to reduce and eliminate the hazardous waste in the first place,” Greene said. ”Phasing out toxic chemicals is one way to avoid these fees.”
In a statement released Saturday, Greene praised Edgar for ”finally displaying some environmental leadership” in this session of the General Assembly.