Fort Sheridan, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fort Sheridan | |
| Unincorporated community | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| County | Lake |
| Coordinates | |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 60037 |
| Area code | 847 |
   Location of Fort Sheridan within Illinois
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| Wikimedia Commons: Fort Sheridan, Illinois | |
Fort Sheridan is a neighborhood spread between Lake Forest, Highwood, and Highland Park[1] in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was originally established as a United States Army Post named after Civil War Cavalry General Philip Sheridan, to honor his services to Chicago. When the fort was decommissioned in the early 1990s, the town remained as a civilian settlement. Most of the original housing structures were refurbished and a residential community has grown substantially in recent years.
| Fort Sheridan Historic District | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | Fort Sheridan, Illinois |
| Built/Founded: | 1889 |
| Architect: | Holabird & Roche; Office of the Quartermaster General |
| Designated as NHL: | April 20, 1984[2] |
| Added to NRHP: | September 29, 1980[3] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 80001379 |
| Governing body: | DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY |
Contents |
[edit] Army post 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 the architectural firm Holabird & Roche of Chicago. These earliest buildings are made of bricks molded and fired on site, using clay mined from lakefront 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 of the original Post. The remaining property is divided between an inactive golf course, residential development, a Navy housing development and a variety of ongoing commercial developments.[4]
[edit] Post-closure environmental cleanup
The geological setting of Fort Sheridan is tableland above a 70-foot high bluff[5] 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.[6]
The Army never operated the landfill by using what could be considered environmentally sound methods.[7] 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.[8] Landfill 7 might be better described as a dump rather than a landfill.[9] 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.[10] Public comments for this interim action were almost universal in their opposition to the cap.[11] 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.[citation needed]
After the interim containment remedy was selected on April 22, 1997,[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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. Opponents claim the analysis of alternatives found in the remedial investigation, remedial action, and feasibility study was skewed in favor of the Army’s preferred, and less expensive remedy.[15]
According to the FY2006 Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report To Congress, $58.7 million in cleanup funding had been appropriated for Fort Sheridan. Estimated cost to completion was $22.2 million estimated for FY2003.[16]
[edit] References
- ^ www.fortsheridan.com
- ^ Fort Sheridan Historic District. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ Fort Sheridan
- ^ 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.
- ^ USACE, 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.
- ^ Microsoft Word - Proposed Plan Landfills 6 & 7 Final Remedy Final.doc
- ^ 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.
- ^ Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report To Congress FY2006, page 84.
[edit] External links
- EPA Region 5, Fort Sheridan
- Globalsecurity.org - Fort Sheridan
- Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress) - Survey number HABS IL-1113
- Landfill 7 - Independent website about controversial clean up decisions.
- Nike Historical Society
- Fort Sheridan
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