The Illinois Pollution Control Board found that the coal mine near Industry violated its water pollution permit more than 600 times.
Tri States Public Radio's series, Delayed Action: The Industry Mine, examines the violations, why it took the state so long to take legal action, and why despite all the violations the state renewed the mine’s permit.
Under a recent class-action lawsuit, agricultural chemical company Syngenta will have to pay cities and towns across the Midwest for contaminating water supplies with the herbicide atrazine. This includes several in Western Illinois.
The company which operates the Industry Coal mine recently was found to have committed over six hundred water pollution violations. Springfield Coal also wanted to renew the mining permit for it’s mine near Industry.
The same day a press conference was to be held protesting the renewal of it’s mining permit, the company withdrew the application.
