City of Ottawa, IL Agrees to Pay $150,000 to Settle Superfund Case

On March 25th, a consent decree was agreed to by the parties in United States vs. City of Ottawa, Civil Action No. 10-1887, which concerned facilities at the Ottawa Radiation Areas Superfund Site in Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois.  The site consists of 16 areas polluted by radioactive materials. 

The pollution came from the Radium Dial Co. (from 1918 to 1936) and Luminous Processes, Inc. (from 1937 to 1978), which made glow-in-the-dark dials for clocks and watches using radium-based paint.  Building demolition material and soil, polluted with radioactive waste, were used as fill material in the Ottawa area.  The federal government sued the City of Ottawa, which owned part of the site and operated a dump on another part of the site, for costs that were incurred and will be incurred for cleaning up the site.

Under the terms of the consent decree, the City of Ottawa will pay $150,000 and also provide approximately $4.35 million in in-kind services, primarily through the provision of clean fill and top soil.

Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.