Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is seeking approval of a budget proposal that would give $5.5 million to start a program called Project Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps (I-RID) that would give state regulators the means to crack down on illegal dumpsites and monitor sites that accept construction and demolition debris, according to a report in the Chicago Daily Southtown.
I-RID would be run by the Illinois Department of Environmental Protection (IEPA), which estimates there are 600 to 900 illegal dumps across the state, according to the report.
The Chicago Daily Southtown reports that about 500 abandoned quarries and sand pits in the state have been converted to clean fill C&D landfills, facilities that traditionally fall outside the control of the IEPA.