Environmentalists lose appeal of landfill near ancient burial site

By: Jim Suhr

MADISON, Ill. (AP) - An independent pollution control agency has rejected environmentalists' claims that a planned landfill could desecrate possible burial grounds near the ruins of a once-thriving prehistoric city.

The Illinois Sierra Club and American Bottom Conservancy failed to show that Madison's approval process for a landfill near the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site was ''fundamentally unfair,'' the Illinois Pollution Control Board ruled Dec. 6.

The St. Louis suburb, which approved the landfill in February, would get roughly $1 million a year in fees from Houston-based Waste Management Inc., the nation's largest garbage hauler.

Opponents on Dec. 7 said they were weighing whether to challenge the matter further. ''

A municipality in search of revenue is going to choose revenue over any cultural or natural resources in the area. That's what we see in so many of our cases,'' said Bruce Morrison, an attorney with Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, which pressed the lawsuit. ''So here, the money from the trash won out over the wetlands and the Native American cultural and historic sites.''

The Dec. 6 setback was ''extremely disappointing,'' American Bottom Conservancy President Kathy Andria said.

''What does it say about us as a people when we value a place to dump our garbage more than an irreplaceable World Heritage Site, a place that's sacred to Native Americans?'' she said.

Environmentalists say the expanded site would be within 2,100 feet of the Cahokia Mounds site and close to Horseshoe Lake State Park. During a 2005 archaeological survey, a skull was found near the proposed landfill site. State officials have said the skull is probably American Indian, but further analysis was needed.

Waste Management, which also owns the Milam landfill in nearby Fairmont City, has said there's no evidence the remains were of an American Indian and that the company met all siting criteria in Madison.

Want to know more? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416286