MADIGAN: PROPOSED SETTLEMENT INCLUDES $26,000 IN PENALTIES FOR TOWER PAINTING INCIDENT

Chicago - Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced that combined civil penalties totaling $26,000 would be assessed against the water utility that serves Alton and the contractor it hired in 2004 to repaint a storage tank for allowing lead-based paint chips and grit to fly off the structure as old paint was improperly removed. 

Madigan filed suit in December 2005 against Illinois-American Water Co and Moore Painting Co, 4522 Alton Commercial Parkway.  The suit alleged air and water pollution and  waste disposal and hazardous waste violations after lead-based chips accumulated at the base of the Cardinal Street storage tank in Alton as well as on a vacant lot east of the tank, a residential backyard to the south and on a street to the north. 

Under the proposed settlement filed October 11 with the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), Moore Painting Co. - the firm Illinois-American hired to paint the water tower - would pay $16,800 and Illinois-American Water Co. would pay $9,200 in civil penalties.  Madigan noted that the immediate area where the release took place has been cleaned of potentially hazardous materials.

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