The Indiana Department of Environmental Management approved a partial closure plan Monday for the Gary junkyard owned by Summit Inc. where hazardous waste was illegally stored.
IDEM sent a letter to Summit Inc. president and site owner Peter Coulopoulos stating that part one of the closure plan — identified as the Fuel Recovery Shed — was approved.
The primary objective of part one is the closure of a container storage pad located at the fuel recovery shed where at least four drums of hazardous waste were stored illegally without a permit, according to the IDEM.
The IDEM-modified closure plan, which is in response to a 2022 court order, would shut down two areas within the junkyard, in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saw crushed automobiles leaking transmission fluid, engine oil, brake fluid, antifreeze and gasoline onto the ground. The EPA noted spent lead acid batteries on the ground and puddles with residual fluids, like automotive used oils and gas, according to the plan.
Summit, Inc., 6901 W. Chicago Avenue, operates as a large-scale metal recycler, and it is located near the Gary/Chicago International Airport and bordered by Airport Road, Industrial Highway and U.S. 12, according to the modified closure plan.
Since 2004, the City of Gary has used legal avenues to ensure that the site is properly cleaned and has issued fines for not maintaining a clean site, seven area legislators stated in a letter. In 2014, IDEM found that Summit, Inc. violated the solid waste disposal process, and in 2016 the EPA entered into a consent agreement with the company that included a civil penalty and required site clean up, according to the letter.
From January 2 through May 17, IDEM held a public comment period for the modified closure plan. At its last public hearing held May 15, many state legislators and Gary Mayor Eddie Melton spoke out against the closure plan stating it does not go far enough because it only closes a small portion of the junkyard by 2030.
Melton said in May he received a 15-page report from the Gary/Chicago International Airport documenting 288 explosions on the site since 2010, with 12 more reported in March and April of this year.
The EPA identified over 20 hazardous materials, including lead, mercury and methochloride, on the site above safe levels for human and environmental health in 2008, Melton said. It also has documented that the substances have spread outside the site, which increases health risks for residents, he said.
Tommy Sokolowski, an attorney for the Gary/Chicago International Airport, said that the modified closure plan will only clean up 0.64 acres of the 38-acre site.
“We’re getting doomed for another 20 years of no site cleanup,” Sokolowski said.
State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, said Summit, Inc. has been causing problems in Gary for the last 20 years. IDEM has the authority to shut Summit, Inc. down, he said.
“They have no business coming to this town and polluting it,” Randolph said.
As a general response to those comments, IDEM wrote in its July 1 letter that soil and groundwater sampling was conducted in May. Based on the results, the plan allows for further investigation “to define the nature and extent of soil and groundwater contamination (including offsite locations), cost estimates and financial assurance.”
“Interim measures will be implemented where unacceptable environmental risk exposures are identified,” according to the IDEM letter.