Trustees Open 30-Day Public Comment Period on Draft Assessment Plan for Natural Resource Injuries at Sauget Superfund Sites, St. Clair County, Illinois

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On June 18, 2013, the federal and State natural resource trustees opened a 30-day public comment period on the draft “Assessment Plan for the Natural Resource Damage Assessment of the Sauget Industrial Corridor Site, St. Clair County, Illinois.” This draft Assessment Plan describes the approach and activities the trustees propose undertaking as part of the natural resource damage assessment of hazardous substances releases at the Sauget Industrial Corridor sites, St. Clair County in southwestern Illinois.

The natural resource trustees in this case include:

• State of Illinois, represented by Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency;
• State of Missouri, represented by Missouri Department of Natural Resources; and,
• U.S. Department of the Interior, represented by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Sauget Industrial Corridor encompasses an area of Mississippi River floodplain around the Villages of Sauget, Cahokia and East St. Louis in St. Clair County, Illinois. A variety of sites within the Corridor include industrial facilities, landfills, waste disposal areas, sludge lagoons and contaminated waterways.

Hazardous substances -- such as PCBs, dioxins, furans, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc -- have been released from these sites to groundwater, nearby wetlands and endangered species habitat. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed listing these sites on the National Priorities List as Sauget Area 1 and Sauget Area 2.

The trustees prepared a Preassessment Screen and Determination in 2009 that concluded a natural resource damage assessment was warranted at Sauget Industrial Corridor. As a next step, the trustees prepared this draft Assessment Plan which is intended to:

• document the trustees’ basis for conducting a natural resource damage assessment;
• organize the approach for quantifying natural resource injuries and calculating damages;
• ensure that the NRDA will be completed at a reasonable cost relative to the magnitude of damages sought; and,
• communicate assessment methodologies to the public to facilitate participation in the assessment process.

Written comments on the draft Assessment Plan must be received by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Illinois Department of Natural Resources by Thursday, July 18, 2013.

Further reading:

• Federal Register Notice (dated June 18, 2013)
• Preassessment Screen and Determination (dated May 6, 2009)
• Draft Assessment Plan (dated January 2013)
• FWS Region 3 NRDAR website for Sauget Industrial Corridor NRDAR