Fort Sheridan, Illinois

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Fort Sheridan water tower and barracks complex

Fort Sheridan, Illinois was a United States Army Post named after Civil War Cavalry General Philip Sheridan, to honor his many services to Chicago.

1 Overview
2 Post-closure environmental cleanup
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Overview

The Commercial Club of Chicago, concerned since 1877 with the need for a military garrison, was motivated by the Haymarket Riot in 1886 to arrange for the donation of 632 acres (2.6 km²) of land to the Federal Government for this purpose. Troops arrived in November 1887 to what was initially called Camp Highwood. A year later, Camp Highwood was renamed Fort Sheridan. Troops stationed at Fort Sheridan were used in 1894 to quell labor unrest during the Pullman Strike.

Fort Sheridan became a mobilization, training, and administrative center beginning with the Spanish-American War in 1898. During World War II, over 500,000 men and women were processed through military service. Many army officers who later became famous lived there, including George Patton and Jonathan Wainwright. From 1953 to 1973, Fort Sheridan was the Cold War base for servicing and supplying all Nike antimissile systems in the upper Midwest. After 1973 the post again housed administrative and logistical support services.

The 94 buildings in the Historic District, built between 1889 and 1910, include 64 structures that were the first major works of architects William Holabird and Martin Roche of Chicago. These earliest buildings are made of bricks molded and fired on site, using clay mined from lake front bluffs. The water tower, originally the tallest structure in the Chicago area, was altered and shortened by 60 feet (18 m) in 1940. The row of buildings flanking the tower were troop barracks. The 110 acre (450,000 m²) Historic District, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984. In 1979, the site was documented by the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey.

Fort Sheridan closed in 1993. The decision to close Fort Sheridan came in the 1989 first round of base closings under the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC).

An Army Reserve base continues to use about 90 acres. The remaining property is divided between a golf course and a variety of ongoing commercial and residential developments.^[1]

[edit] Post-closure environmental cleanup

Landfill 7 inside eroding Lake Michigan Bluff

The geological setting of Fort Sheridan is tableland above a 70-foot high erodible bluff^[2] in an area cut by deep ravines. The bluff overlooks Lake Michigan and the ravine creates an open face in the bluff at the beach’s edge. Seven such ravines cut across the base, and, over the years, the Army filled them in with waste generated by operations. Apparently, a decision was made to place the most toxic waste in the Wells Ravine, now called Landfill 7. This is apparent because Landfill 7 is the only site at Fort Sheridan that the US EPA considers to be Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)-caliber.^[3]

The Army never operated the landfill by using what could be considered environmentally sound methods.^[4] No high-density plastic containment liner was placed between the ravine and the waste. No IEPA permit was ever issued while the landfill was operating. The landfill never benefited from regulatory oversight until the State of Illinois commenced litigation in 1979. An operating permit was issued two months after the landfill ceased operations.^[5] Landfill 7 might be better described as a dump rather than a landfill.^[6] This distinction is important because it differentiates the practices of two eras and informs decision makers of the true nature of the facility.

The Army then applied for a closure permit and installed a leachate collection system and placed a clay cap over Landfill 7 in 1979. By 1982, the cap had failed due to ponding of water and the failure of the leachate collection system to collect any leachate. The Army claims the cap failure was caused by its failure to maintain the cap.

Fort Sheridan was slated to be closed in the first round of base closures in 1989. In the 17 years since then, the Army has been evaluating what remedy will be selected to permanently close Landfill 7. Because Landfill 7 had been dispensing 14,000 gallons of leachate per day into Lake Michigan, and the leachate was above state environmental effluent standards, CERCLA allowed the Army to implement an interim remedy prior to deciding on the permanent remedy. The Army chose to construct a $16 million cap.^[7] Public comments for this interim action were almost universal in their opposition to the cap.^[8] The majority of the comments focused on the failure of the Army to adequately characterize the type of waste in the landfill, the geologic instability of the ravine / bluff environment, and the proximity to Lake Michigan from which local drinking water is drawn.

The Army’s responses to these comments were dismissive as either premature because this was only an interim solution or irrelevant because the cap remedy was assumed to be an effective method for containment of the waste.

After the interim containment remedy was selected on April 22, 1997,^[9] the Army brought in Dr. Shabica to evaluate the shore protections as part of the design phase. On December 2, 1997, he informed the Army that the cap, as designed, would fail due to erosion. The Army responded by purchasing a new system designed by Dr. Shabica's company.^[10]

The interim cap was completed in June of 2004, and the Army will at some point propose to make capping the final remedy, based on the same analysis that supported the interim action.

Erosion is a force affecting the North Shore bluffs that cannot be stopped,^[11] the Army went forward under the assumption that the containment engineering of Landfill 7 would succeed. The decision to cap Landfill 7 as the final remedy goes against some of the conclusions of the geological community.

The Army is the lead agency in determining what cleanup alternative should be selected. The analysis of alternatives found in the RI, RA, and FS was skewed in favor of the Army’s preferred, and less expensive remedy.^[12]

[edit] References

^ http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/478.html
^ Illinois Department of Transportation; Division of Water Resources. Harmony with the Lake: Guide to Bluff Stabilization, Lake Michigan, IL. The Illinois Coastal Zone Management Program.
^ US EPA Region 5 Superfund Division, Fort Sheridan.
^ Argonne National Laboratory. Enhanced Preliminary Assessment Report: Fort Sheridan 1989 pg. 24.
^ Id at 13, 24.
^ Dumps and landfills are not entirely synonymous and a distinction should be made. A dump is defined as, “a site used to dispose of solid wastes without environmental controls.” (Environmental Glossary. 4th ed. 1986. Edited by G. William Frick and Thomas F.P. Sullivan. Pub by Government Institutes, Inc., Rockville , MD pp.99). The term “landfill” is replacing “dump” due to the modernization of solid waste facilities. Landfill is defined as a “facility in which solid waste from municipal and/or industrial sources is disposed; sanitary landfills are those that are operated in accordance with environmental protection standards.” (EPA Drinking Water Glossary: A Dictionary of Technical and Legal Terms Related to Drinking Water. USEPA Office of Water. June 1994 pp17).
^ Walsh, Don and Liberman, Polina, Fort Sheridan Landfills 6 & 7 Closure. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University on behalf of Chicago Environmental Law Clinic August 2003 pg 26. Northwestern University study.
^ Responsiveness Summary. Mayor Geraci of Highland Park, Mayor Sirotti of Highwood, the League of Women Voters of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff/Highland Park, the Lake Michigan Federation, and the Sierra Club all opposed the interim capping action.
^ U.S. ACE, Decision Document (DD) for Interim Source Control Action for Landfills 6 and 7 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. April 22, 1997.
^ Shabica, Charles W. and Charles Shabica & Associates. Review of Erosion Control Features for Interim Remedial Action Landfills 6 & 7, Fort Sheridan, Illinois, November 25, 1997.
^ City of Highland Park. Living in a Ravine and Lakefront Community.” Water erosion is the most threatening force impacting ravine and lakefront property. It is a natural force which can be slowed, but cannot be stopped entirely.”
^ Walsh, Don and Liberman, Polina, Fort Sheridan Landfills 6 & 7 Closure. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University on behalf of Chicago Environmental Law Clinic August 2003 pg 26.