McHenry County state’s attorney joins litigation against companies accused of contaminating Marengo groundwater

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency decided Monday that Arnold Engineering and 300 West LLC in Marengo made errors in a court-ordered investigation of the scope of soil and groundwater contamination caused by the business’ local industrial site.

It wasn’t the first time the companies’ work reporting on the extent of potentially dangerous amounts of chemicals produced by Arnold Engineering at 300 West St. was disapproved by state regulators, said Norm Vinton, a lawyer with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, who shared the IEPA’s Monday letter taking issue with the companies’ effort.

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office first sued Arnold, also known as Arnold Magnetic Technologies, and the property owner 300 West LLC in 2013, claiming they caused caused the contamination of groundwater captured by the wells of residents in the Marengo area, and in 2016, a McHenry County court ordered them to document the amount of contamination.

Since then, the companies have failed to accurately gauge the problem multiple times, which is why McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally announced on Friday that his office was joining the lawsuit.

“It’s well past time that Arnold and 300 West LLC take responsibility for and remediate the hideous mess and pollution prior irresponsible and thoughtless business practices created,” Kenneally said in a news release. “Our office will fight any further foot-dragging, band-aid solutions or pleas of poverty on the part of polluters.”

Despite the recent critique by the IEPA, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office said the companies are in compliance with court orders.

“The order was amended last year to require the defendants to submit a revised report to the Illinois EPA detailing remaining onsite contamination and remediation plans. The defendants are currently in compliance with the amended order, and we will not hesitate to take additional action to ensure continued compliance,” said Annie Thompson, press secretary for Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The businesses involved have already paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to hook up about a dozen properties to municipal drinking water supply, as was ordered by a judge, said Gerald Nudo, a principal of Chicago-based Marc Realty who is listed as a manager of 300 West LLC, the owner of Arnold’s site.

Nudo had not yet received communication Monday afternoon from state environmental regulators regarding the companies’ latest reports.

Neighboring property owners also alleged in a 92-page amended complaint filed in September that they are still being impacted by the contamination, though the neighbors in that suit asked the court to voluntarily dismiss their complaint in March.

That will be considered by a court later this month, documents show. It is unknown whether settlement talks are part of the reason the dismissal is being sought, although Nudo suggested that is the case.

He said the businesses, after hooking some properties up to municipal water at no expense to the owners of land possibly hit by contaminated water, have faced legal complaints from residents who opted out.

“A couple people chose voluntarily not to be hooked up. And the judge told those people either hook up or don’t hook up. They’re still pressing claims. But we don’t know where that’s going. We don’t know why those people chose to do what they did. Although they’re asking for very substantial amounts of money. More than in excess of what would be anticipated,” Nudo said. “They were given every opportunity to hook up to city water. Their attorneys said they chose to litigate instead of being hooked up.”

Lawyers for neither Arnold, which creates industrial magnets, nor the plaintiffs in the complaint filed in September by the companies’ neighbors responded to requests for comment Monday.

Vinton, of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, said there is concern the contaminated area is growing as the companies cannot come to agreement with the IEPA on a plan to scope the problem properly and remediate it.

“It’s an environmental issue that covers hundreds of acres, and nobody seems to know how far it has spread really at this point and how far it is going to spread. And it’s time for someone to clean it up,” Vinton said in an interview.

Raoul said he appreciated Kenneally’s office joining the case.

“The Attorney General’s office has been committed to ensuring residents have access to safe drinking water, and we continue to take action to hold the defendants accountable for complying with the order entered in 2016,” Raoul said in a release.