What the hell is City of Kankakee mayoral candidate Nina Epstein thinking when she says she supports the Barbara/Volini dump because there are no alternatives?

 

A $200 million dollar garbage-to-ethanol plant is being built by private investors in Lake County, Indiana, our neighbors to the east.  They will be charging $17.50 per ton to take garbage as opposed to Allied's landfill fee of $41.00.  This represents a 57% savings.  Another company is building a garbage-to-energy plant at the site of a Chicago garbage transfer station.  Read about the Chicago plant here.

 

Fred Barbara and  Tom Volini or any other dump operator cannot compete with a $17.50 per ton charge to take garbage.  Barbara and Volini have an additional problem.  Just last year, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources issued a requirement of a 300 feet wide by a mile long relief channel to be dug along Minnie creek because the area is a very flood prone area.  At close to $5.00 a gallon for diesel fuel, this requirement will cost many millions to dig  while at the same time they will have to compete for garbage with garbage-to-ethanol plants charging $17.50 to take a ton of garbage.

 

Why would Epstein dump our garbage directly into the deep aquifer to form the base of a 236 acre, 200 feet high mountain of garbage in a very flood prone area at a fee over double what we would be charged if we sent our garbage to Crown Point, Indiana to be process into badly needed energy?  Better yet why not go after one of these companies to get them to build a plant here creating good paying jobs and hundreds more in construction jobs?  By the way Crown Point is at least 10 miles closer then Pontiac where most of our garbage is now going to an Allied dump.

 

Epstein's lack of critical thinking, on this subject, is an example of why this area was voted the last place to live in North America.   While our neighbors will be embracing the future and getting the good paying jobs, under her administration, we will get a few dump jobs in exchange for putting our greatest assets at risk, the river and deep aquifer, clean water source for thousands.

 

Read what three independent scientists have to say about the proposed Nina Epstein backed garbage dump with Fred Barbara and Tom Volini.  Experts Report

Read  the Illinois EPA law suit against Tom Volini for illegal dumping.   Case   No. 07 CH 303 at the Kankakee County Court House.

 

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