6819 Indianapolis Blvd.
Hammond, IN 46324
(219) 845-5008 Fax (219) 845-5032
Email: info@calproject.org


Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) in East Chicago, Indiana

For contact information:  Citizens for a Clean Environment.

Last updated:  January 22, 2005. 

QUICK LINKS TO CDF-RELATED WEB PAGES ON THIS SITE:

    --  An independent review of the CDF project was completed by SEH in September, 2004.

   --  Actual updated air monitoring data from East Chicago Central High School (CDF-8)--compares air monitoring data from Spring 2003 with Summer 2002.  NOTE:  IT GOT WORSE!  Dated September 16, 2003, and presented to the East Chicago Waterway Management District Board of Directors that evening.

    --  Press Release:  The Calumet Project Claims "Moral Victory" for CDF Opponents in East Chicago (CDF-7).  Dated May 8, 2003.

    --  Letter to a Public Official (CDF-4).  Letter dated January 16, 2003.

    -- Actual Air Monitoring Data (CDF-3)

    -- Median Air Monitoring Data (CDF-2)

    -- Links to selected newspaper articles, letters to the editor, etc. (CDF-5).

INTRODUCTION:  Welcome to our web pages on the CDF in East Chicago! 

The US Army Corps of Engineers, along with the East Chicago Water Management District Board, is trying to build a "confined disposal facility"--in reality, a toxic waste dump--in East Chicago that is to be sited within 800 yards of two schools!  Particularly because of the public health dangers of this site (itself already an unremediated hazardous waste site), plus the hazardous waste (such as PCBs, Benzene and Naphthalene) that will be dredged and added to it, The Calumet Project is actively engaged in stopping the Project.

This page is the "Introduction" to the set of pages that follow.  Below are the different pages that contain information about the CDF--the higher the number, the more recent the data.  You can go in order of the material, or you can jump to the particular page listed.  Since this is an on-going campaign, pages will be added as needed/when developed, so you should check back periodically.  We will provide summaries on this Introduction page to the information provided on each subsequent page, so as to help you get to the information you seek as quickly as possible.

Before discussing the impact of the Project on the city of East Chicago, Indiana, however, it is necessary to talk about the environmental racism embodied in this Project:  this Project disproportionately effects people of color who overwhelmingly comprise the population of the city.  

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF THE POPULATION:  East Chicago is a city whose population is overwhelmingly people of color.  According to the 2000 US Census, of the 32,414 people living in East Chicago:

  • 16,728 (51.6%) are Latino
  • 11,405 (35.2%) are African-American
  • 349 (1.1%) are other people of color
  • 3,922 (12.1%) are white

Total percentage of population in East Chicago that are people of color:  87.9%.

Letter to a Public Official (CDF-4):  This is a detailed (and somewhat lengthy) letter to a public official, dated January 16, 2003, discussing our concerns about and objections to this Project.  It discusses and is accessible by major subjects:.

  • economic rationale for the dredging, 
 
  • environmental contamination of the Harbor and Canal,
  • the flawed nature of the Project,
  • construction-related issues,
  • groundwater-related issues,
  • the unwillingness of the East Chicago Sanitary District to treat water with any level of PCB contamination,
  • public health-related issues,
  • lack of any consideration of chemical pollutants,
  • a discussion of the health effects of naphthalene (which HAS been found at the East Chicago Central High School air monitoring site), and which specifically effects people from the Mediterranean countries as well as African-Americans,
  • and our Conclusion.

Actual Air Monitoring Data (CDF-3):  This page presents the ACTUAL air monitoring data on specific dates at East Chicago Central High School by chemicals recorded, and the specific level at which they were recorded, and this is compared to the MEDIAN results of air monitoring data that The Calumet Project had previously posted (see CDF-2 below).  There is a link to the original data as reported by the Army Corps of Engineers, which includes the specific air monitoring data at all four of the sites around the ECI site--where the CDF is slated to be located--in addition to those from the High School, but only data from Central High is reported here.  These data also can be found for previous quarters of the year when testing was done as well:  we only report data here from 3rd Qtr. 2002.

    Not all chemicals were at reportable levels, so we only included those that reached reportable levels.  "Reportable levels" are the threshold by which each particular chemical can be detected by a laboratory.  Reaching a reportable level does not mean that the particular chemical is dangerous to human beings, but we at The Calumet Project believe that a chemical concentration that is reportable is cause for concern, and the level of concern should rise as the reportable numbers increase as multiples of the reporting number.  In other words, something that is 3 times the reporting number deserves more consideration than something only 2 times the reporting number.

    Known health effects are included within the table, under each respective chemical listed; suspected health effects are denoted on the page CDF-2.

    On the page CDF-2, we reported median data as developed by the Corps.  The "median" is the 50% amount--it is a composite number, and half of the readings are above this number and half below. NOTE THAT THE ACTUAL RECORDED DATA AS PROVIDED HEREIN IS HIGHER THAN THE MEDIAN DATA.  In other words, the actual data is much worse than that data initially found by The Calumet Project.

Median Air Monitoring Data (CDF-2):  This page notes the racial composition of the East Chicago population--87.9% being people of color according to the 2000 US Census, and then reports specific findings from an Army Corps of Engineers' air monitoring site at the East Chicago Central High School, approximately  800 yards from the proposed CDF site. 

   The specific air monitoring data from Central High have been put in an readily understandable table, which lists (1) the particular chemicals; (2) the health effects of each chemical (recognized carcinogen, recognized toxicant--by particular organ--or suspected carcinogen or toxicant); (3) the "reporting limit"--basically undefined by the Corps, but is above the "laboratory reporting limit" of their laboratory, so we must assume that it is especially toxic to be given a specific reading; and (4) the median amount (i.e., mid-range of all reports:  half are lower, half are higher) of each chemical detected at Central High School between November 2001-July 2002.

Data for categories 1, 2 and 4, are taken directly from the US Army Corps of Engineers web site on the Indiana Harbor and Canal Project, and there is a direct link to this data above the table on our page, so you can see exactly what the Corps has found:  the locations denoted "north," "east," "south," and "west" on their site refer to air monitoring stations directly around the proposed CDF site, and the "high school" data refers to Central High.  We have selected only the data from "High School" to put on our page. 

Data for category 3 are NOT found on the Corps' web site as they do not want this information out to the public, but was taken from a report of the US Public Information Research Group.  A direct link to the report that this data is taken from is provided below the table.

   Below the table on this page are some other issues that impinge upon this Project.  These arguments will be developed over time, but we've included them here so as to suggest some of the many problems with this project.

For more information and/or to get involved fighting this project, please contact:

Citizens for a Clean Environment
Ruth Turpin
7414 Howard Ave
Hammond, IN 46324
 
Tel:  219-933-4825
E-mail:  info@calproject.org

 

CDF-1: Confined Disposal Facility CDF-5: Newspaper Links
CDF-2:  Median Air Monitoring Data CDF-6: News Update
CDF-3:  Actual Air Monitoring Data CDF-7: Votes against CDF in EC Mayoral Election
CDF-4: Letter to Officials re CDF CDF-8: Air monitoring update, 9-16-03
Army Corps Property Value Impact Study 2002 Assessment of Sediments in the Indiana Harbor AOC
Cancer Risks Polycyclic Organic Matter CDF Web Page Jan 2003
Citizens Questions & Concerns 2003 Corrosion Protection
Dredging Activity Information Session April 2001 Environmental Justice Analysis of Impact on Property Value
Environmental Releases for Lake County EPA Regulated Facilities in Lake County IN
Greenpeace - Technical Criteria for POP's Destruction Health Effects Pollution Locator
In Situ Treatment of Contaminated Sediments Indiana Harbor and Canal Maintenance Dredging Reg Req Rpt
Indiana Toxic Air Data 1997 Residents Protest Hazardous Waste Dump
Resoulution Opposing IH Ship Canal Dredging Review for short Henrickson Report
Review of Environmental Impact Statements Jan 2000 Risk Assessment Reviewpdf
Supplementary Risk Assessment Review Technologies for the destruction of PCB's
TOSC Conaminated Sediments TOSC Report Jan 2003
White Paper on the Husdson River PCB Cleanup 1994