Dismissal of Claims Against Firm Appealed
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Illinois’ attorney general has appealed a judge’s ruling that dismissed claims against American Ecology Corp. in a case involving a hazardous-waste site in Sheffield, Ill.
The claims were brought against Agoura Hills-based American Ecology by officials of the state of Illinois and Bureau County, who had sought cleanup costs for the site from the company.
An Illinois state judge, Alexander T. Bower, dismissed the claims in June on grounds that the Illinois officials’ efforts were preempted by the federal government. Last fall, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to a plan for cleaning up the site that would cost American Ecology $13 million over 30 years.
American Ecology said the attorney general’s appeal of Bower’s decision “has no merit.”
The 45-acre Sheffield site, about 120 miles west of Chicago, was closed in the early 1980s after nearby ground water was contaminated by chemical waste. American Ecology’s US Ecology subsidiary had operated the site.
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