The plan was for the coal tar cleanup at the former Ottawa Central School property to be done before 2020 ended. Nicor Gas spokeswoman Jennifer Golz says the cleanup contractor found an obstacle that has to be removed–an old wooden channel that was part of a mill race. That has added time to the project.
The mill race brought water to a water wheel used in the gas production facility that was alongside the Illinois River in the late 1800s and early 1900s. That facility used coal and it left cancer causing coal tar 15 to 20 feet below the surface. That’s what’s being removed.
Nicor Gas and ComEd are paying for the cleanup. Ottawa Gas, Light, and Coke, an ancestor company to them, ran the gas production facility.
The riverfront cleanup site as it looked on December 31, 2020