2 Investigators

Toxic Cover-Up: Is Landfill Endangering Residents?

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The water they drink, the air they breath and the land they live on may be contaminated with chemicals like vinyl chloride and methane gas.

Karen Perez and Jennifer Frenchmann live in constant fear of the Mallard Lake Landfill. They turned to the 2 Investigators for help because they believe the company involved, and at least one government agency, covered up the problems for decades.

"Every day we just have to wait, not knowing where our future is emotional," Perez said.

2 Investigator Dave Savini reports dangerous toxins discovered by the Environmental Protection Agency leaking from the dump forced the installation of special methane gas detection devices in their Hanover Park Homes.

"That's not safe and nobody's telling us what's going on," Frenchmann said.

Steve Faryan from the U.S. EPA is in charge of the investigation into the dangerous gas.

He said the gas is explosive, and it's coming from the landfill.

In July 2006 BFI Waste Systems, the company that manages the landfill for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, found dangerous levels of methane gas underground – 300 percent above the minimum that can cause an explosion.

Faryan said, "Nobody was told about the tests."

And now questions of a toxic cover-up are surfacing.

Tests conducted on an area outside of the landfill showed explosive levels of methane gas, just a few feet away from peoples homes, but when the U.S. EPA went there to try and find evidence of the test site they say it had disappeared – it had been covered with dirt.

Faryan had no explanation for why the hole was covered.

BFI and the Forest Preserve District deny any cover up. In a statement they claim "the results were made available to regulatory bodies."

The U.S. EPA says that's not true.

"It is clear to me that it was never told to the public or the state," Faryan said.

In fact, he says they didn't learn about the secret tests for a year and a half.

"I'm a little disturbed by that because it is information that could have been acted on," he said.

"They decided to ignore these people, the decided to play roulette with these people's homes and their safety," said Shawn Collins. "It's a disgrace."

Collins, an attorney, is suing BFI and the Forest Preserve District. He claims both parties first knew explosive levels of methane gas were a problem that needed to be fixed back the late 1980s.

"They've done nothing to stop it," Collins said.

He claims lives may be in jeopardy and he believes toxic waste from the landfill has migrated with the gas into drinking wells miles away.

"We really have no idea how long our water has been contaminated," said Denene Bermudez.

Bermudez isn't sure who is responsible for small traces of vinyl chloride in her water, and she doesn't trust BFI and the Forest Preserve District.

"This is a very serious matter that I think is trying to be swept under the rug," Bermudez said.

BFI claims it retained a panel of independent experts to analyze the drinking wells in question and they unanimously concluded "the landfill is not and cannot be the source of trace chemicals."

But Faryan said, "That investigation is ongoing so we haven't determined whether its not a source."

Faryan found out about the methane gas leak while trying to trace the toxic water back to a source.

"I had to take immediate action," he said. He ordered 250 methane detectors to be installed in homes. More government testing is underway.

"This is an environmental tragedy of a dimension that is not fully known yet," Collins said.

"I am so angered, so hurt that people can do this to other human beings," Perez said.

BFI and the Forest Preserve District claim no toxins were found in any homes but the U.S. EPA says in the most recent tests of a local park and Perez's home, numerous chemicals were found consistent with landfill waste.

They did not, however, find methane linked to the landfill inside her home. They now plan to test 30 more homes.

The landfill operators were officially cited three weeks ago by the Illinois EPA with permit violations for not reporting the explosive levels of methane gas found off-site in July 2006.


BFI Waste Systems and the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County said in a statement: "The safety of our neighbors is a top priority... The methane that migrated from the landfill is trapped approximately 25 feet below ground. A plan is being finalized to remove it and new wells are preventing further migration. We regret any concern or inconvenience this may have caused."

Click here for more information on the Mallard Lake Landfill site from the U.S. EPA Web site.

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