Toxic Chemicals Polluting Air, Illinois Epa Says

April 18, 1990|By Stevenson Swanson, Environment writer.

Illinois industries released 348.3 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the environment in 1988, of which almost 40 percent went directly into the air with little or no treatment, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.

In the six-county metropolitan area, companies emitted 135.8 million pounds of toxics, according to the agency`s second annual inventory of toxic releases. Cook County accounted for 105.7 million pounds, or nearly 78 percent of the metropolitan total.

The substances covered in the study cause a wide range of health problems, from dizziness to cancer.

The report, compiled from data that companies are required to submit to the state under a landmark 1986 federal law, found that 39.7 percent of the toxics were emitted into the air, either from factory smokestacks or as

``fugitive`` emissions that escape from, among other things, leaky valves or open holding tanks.

``Those numbers present a compelling case for the need for on-going across-the-board reductions in toxic releases to the air,`` said Illinois EPA spokesman Will Flower. ``The air represents the greatest risk of exposure to humans.``

Unlike liquid releases to water-treatment plants or burial in a hazardous-waste landfill, most toxic substances in air emissions are not treated before entering the atmosphere.

Toxic air emissions were supposed to be regulated under the federal Clean Air Act of 1970, but the U.S. government has set standards for only eight chemicals.

The proposed Clean Air Act pending in Congress contains strong measures to cut air toxins by mandating the use of available pollution control equipment. Also, the Illinois EPA has submitted a list to the Illinois Pollution Control Board of 84 toxic substances whose emission into the atmosphere the agency wants to regulate. The board is still considering the list.

The report found that industries discharged 4.7 million pounds of known human carcinogens, up from last year`s report of 3.9 million pounds.

But direct comparisons with last year`s study are almost impossible, Flower said. Under the federal right-to-know law, the number of companies that have to report their toxic releases increases yearly. This year`s report covers 1,174 plants, up from 938 plants last year.