MENDOTA – Residuals from an old manufactured gas plant that existed in Mendota will be cleaned up. A representative from Nicor Gas, which is conducting the project, gave a report to the Mendota City Council at its regular meeting on Oct. 21.

The plant was located where what is now the north parking lot of Black Bros. Co., at the southeast corner of Ninth Avenue and Fifth Street. When natural gas came into play in the 1930s and 1940s, manufactured gas plants (MGP) shut down.

Linda Josupait, senior project manager with Nicor Gas, told the council that Nicor and ComEd are partnering to clean up MGPs under the oversight of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Josupait said the plan is to clean up the property starting in November and they are hoping to be done in the fall of 2021. A majority of the work will be done in the parking lot, with some work planned in the adjacent creek.

Josupait explained that the brick building in the parking lot along with five warehouses at the east end of the lot will be torn down. The soil will be excavated, hauled out and taken to a landfill, and the area will be backfilled with clean soil.

Josupait said that during the process, a temporary fabric enclosure will be put up over the entire area to cut down on noise and any odor that may come from the soil. She said one of the main residuals of soil from an MGP is tar, which gives off an odor. She added that extensive air monitoring samples will be conducted during the process. An air filtration system will be utilized during the work to filter the air before it is emitted back out.

Josupait noted that the fabric enclosure will begin to be built in March 2020.

More detailed information about the project can be obtained online at www.mendotasite.info or by contacting Bernie Anderson of Nicor Gas at info@mendotasite.info or by calling (309) 261-4155.