Investigation Underway Into Cicero Company's Alleged Wildlife Hazard
(CBS) -- An investigation is underway into allegations a Cicero company created a hazard to fish and other wildlife in and around the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, an environmentally protected waterway.
CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini reports.
Jim Baker and James Poulos get upset when they look down from the Central Avenue bridge over the Stevenson Expressway at this canal--a protected Illinois waterway where boats head back and forth to Lake Michigan.
Poulos says he's seen the destruction of the shoreline.
"Yes, I have. For the last six months, I have seen the asphalt slowly creeping into the canal," he said.
Poulos and Baker said they've seen the company Tough Cuts take construction materials like stone, asphalt, bricks, and other items; creating massive piles along the canal's banks.
"I see it getting worse and worse," Poulos says.
Trees are engulfed in asphalt; and broken concrete and debris is now actually in the waterway.
The concern is if something isn't done, the piles will continue to get bigger and bigger, pushing more toward the shoreline, causing potential danger to wildlife.
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is home to numerous birds, and the more than 70 types of fish. It stretches from the Chicago River west past Interstate 355 to the Des Plaines River.
"Until they get their hands slapped, they're going to keep on doing what they're doing," Baker said.
And Poulos says it poses a specific danger.
"The oils and the chemicals off the asphalt when it rains it washes into the canal," Poulos said.
The two say they contacted the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency a year ago and got no response at all.
The 2 Investigators later got involved and several investigations were launched. The United States Army Corp of Engineers is now conducting a probe after the IEPA sent them pictures of the shoreline.
The men say no one at Tough Cuts would talk to them about the piles that are now under investigation.
"I'm aggravated about this situation. I believe that they should be more environmentally conscientious," Baker says.
Because of the CBS 2 Investigation, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, which leases the land to Tough Cuts, says the company will voluntarily move the piles away from the shoreline. The Army Corps of Engineers' probe could take as long as a year.
