La Salle receives air monitor from Carus

After months of residents sharing their concerns about the potential environmental impact following the Jan. 11 chemical fire at Carus LLC, La Salle has received an air monitor.

The monitor was donated to the city by Carus on Tuesday in response to residents asking questions about “emission levels in the surrounding neighborhoods.”

Volunteers from the Sierra Club had advised residents to pursue an air monitor to measure for possible pollution. Review of continuous monitoring from the air monitor at La Salle Public Library indicated a significant increase in three-hour averages the day of the fire and slowly increasing levels as Carus brought its processes back online, said Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a certified hazardous materials manager volunteering her time in La Salle, at a previous council meeting. Pointer indicated these findings should warrant further testing.

La Salle also has an air monitor located at the public library at 305 Marquette St.

“Carus has heard these concerns and wants to offer our neighbors further reassurance that emissions from our operations are not polluting the environment or the air around their homes by donating an air quality monitor to the city,” Richard Landtiser, vice president of innovation, technology, and environmental health and safety at Carus, said in a news release.

La Salle Alderman Joe Jeppson, who has taken the lead on the project, picked up the monitor about 4 p.m. Tuesday. He said the remainder of the equipment, the WiFi router and solar attachments, should arrive later this week.

Jeppson said he hopes to have the monitor installed Monday at Rotary Park. He originally suggested Matthiessen Park by Carus but changed locations after speaking with a representative of the Sierra Club.

“She indicated it was too close to the facility and the wind patterns go from west to east in the area,” Jeppson said. “So, she was thinking to get a little further away from Carus, and Rotary Park is kind of east of Carus, so that would probably be an ideal location.”

Jeppson said Carus paid for three years of WiFi to allow public access to the air monitor, through a web hosting service.

“We can embed that link onto the library’s webpage or something to that effect,” Jeppson said. “At the same time there is an app you can download and put on your phone and just check the quality anytime you want.”

In a news release, Carus said a complete detail of its emissions can be found in the Air Emissions Report filed with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Toxic Chemicals Release Report filed yearly with U.S. EPA. These public reports show Carus’ particulate matter emissions are less than 50% of the allowable limit, the company said.