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December 20, 2007
Mayor Green's Legacy Is At Stake. Will He Be Remembered As The Man Who Allowed The Area Water Supply, The Aquifer & River, To Be Polluted With Garbage Leachate? The Man Who Allowed The River & Deep Aquifer To Be
by Keith L. Runyon, president of Concerned United Taxpayers (CUT)
The local government accountability groups have been quick to criticize all local governments for actions that are in conflict with the general welfare of the citizen taxpayers. While we have been critical of some abuses of power by the City of Kankakee, we have also lauded some of their positive financial actions, such as repealing the sticker and cops taxes. We have also lauded the positive financial impact of City’s corporate sales tax program. Mayor Green and his board have also done a commendable job of stimulating economic development in Kankakee after years of economic dormancy.
With Mayor Green’s announcement that he will not run for re-election, his legacy is at stake . If the County and local citizens’ groups are unable to stop the Green backed Town and Country landfill, Mayor Green will be remembered, forever, as the man who destroyed the public’s water supply and wreaked economic destruction on the entire County.
Because of its positioning over and into water source aquifer, his proposed landfill will contaminate our water supply and transform our primary asset into our number one nemesis. It will always be a threat to our water supply The recent Shell Oil settlement of $46 million to compensate people in Limestone for the loss of their well water will look like chump change by comparison with the liability the City will face for destroying the entire County’s water source.
Contamination from landfills and their volatile organic chemicals are lethal. Some actions of your elected officials may make you, figuratively ill, but approving this landfill right over and into our water supply aquifer, as the city is considering, could literally kill you. Major scientific groups and individuals have condemned this proposed landfill as a direct threat to our health, safety and welfare The Illinois Supreme Court recently concurred with the opinions of the scientific community that deems the proposed landfill as a threat to our health, safety and welfare of the residents, by overturning the City’s approval of the first Town and Country Application.
All indications are that Town and County will file a third application. The Mayor and the City Council have two clear choices: they may deny the Town &Country application and leave a legacy of positive economic progress, or they may approve the application and doom the citizens of the county to the permanent loss of our water source, while imperiling the health and safety and economic welfare of everyone who uses water from the Kankakee River and its connecting aquifers..