Green Options

The city of Crestwood, IL is in hot water with the state government. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday claiming that not only did the village serve tainted water for more than 20 years, it knowingly lied to the EPA and residents repeatedly over the years.

One of the more blatant examples came from Crestwood’s own certified water operator. The Illinois EPA ordered the local well tested for toxins, and in a letter, Frank Scaccia said,

‘This sampling would not apply to our facility,’ because the town’s water came from Lake Michigan and not the well.

Officials repeated this lie numerous times over the years, and now Madigan is going after them. Officials face millions of dollars of fines if found guilty in the civil suit.

Crestwood officials violated the public’s trust and the laws designed to protect public health.

You may remember this story. A former Crestwood resident helped uncover the town’s water sins after two of her three children became ill with cancer.

Turns out, the water had been tainted with a highly toxic dry cleaning chemical. But officials fended off further scrutiny, says Madigan, by lying to authorities no fewer than 120 times over the years.

The chemical perchloroethylene (or “perc”) might not ring a bell, but it is likely be found in your home. Considered by the EPA to be both a health and environmental hazard, it is a solvent used by most dry cleaners across the country for more than 70 years. It is shown to cause liver cancer and can even harm the central nervous system in lab animals.

When clothes are cleaned with perc, they will actually off-gas this substance into the air. It most commonly enters the body through the air, but can also be absorbed through the skin or found in drinking water.

“When you go and pick up that bag and bring it home, you still have perchloroethylene off-gassing or coming off the clothes,” said Melanie Marty of the California EPA. “You don’t want something in widespread use that’s been shown to be a carcinogen.”

Is it necessary to use toxic chemicals to get our clothes “clean”? Before you get too depressed, let’s examine some solutions.

Dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene (perc), while good at removing stains, is a serious health risk, especially for those working directly with it. It has also infiltrated soils and groundwater over the years in areas near dry cleaning facilities. The concern over this chemical has prompted California to ban the use of perc by 2023, and sent many searching for alternative methods to dry cleaning.

There are alternatives out there. Wet

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HangerNetworkThere's a lot of talk about how bad dry cleaning chemicals are. We've recently noted how California is phasing out the uber-toxic perc. But what about the annoying wire hangers that come with your freshly pressed trousers?

Editor's note: Amy Stodghill is Green Options' newest addition to the blogging team. A NYC-based filmmaker, Amy is also the writer/publisher of the blog It's the Environment, Stupid! We're happy that she's joined us!

California will ban perchloroethylene - or perc, the toxic solvent used in dry cleaning - by 2023.

The California Air Resources Board has already begun phasing out the widely used chemical by prohibiting the sale of new machines that

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