La Salle mayor leads march in front of Carus asking for more dialogue

La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove led a rally in front of the Carus Chemical offices in Peru on Wednesday morning to seek more dialogue with Carus, which has left many in the city wanting answers.

La Salle residents have raised concerns about a substance that spread over many cars, homes and yards after a Jan. 11 fire. Residents have conducted their own independent air and soil testing that has shown results of heavy metals and have called for more testing.

Carus LLC said in a news release in late March the cause of the fire was a damaged package of potassium permanganate being dragged by a forklift. The multi-alarm fire and explosions sent a large plume of smoke across the sky and left residents with residue on homes, cars and yards. The Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal has said the cause is undetermined, as of yet.

Last week the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said additional testing would not be useful and unable to determine any further impacts to residents. Residents at April 3′s meeting believe the EPA’s findings were not complete.

Grove was joined by a half dozen other concerned area residents on the sidewalk along U.S. 6 in Peru.

At La Salle’s April 3 City Council meeting, residents noted Carus has not attended a City Council meeting since the Jan. 11 fire, yet dozens of residents have attended each meeting since the fire raising environmental concerns, among other questions of the company. Grove noted there have been six meetings since Jan. 6.

It’s been three months since the fire, and there are a lot of questions, a lot of unanswered questions.”

—  La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove

“It’s been three months since the fire, and there are a lot of questions, a lot of unanswered questions,” Grove said. “We’ve put a lot of time and resources, and money into this, and a lot of money we hope to recoup from Carus and until this point, we have not (recouped), for additional testing for our residents.”

Grove said what motivated him to rally Wednesday was a letter Carus issued the city prior to its April 3 meeting.

“We got correspondence from Carus basically saying, speak to these points,” Grove said. “No. We’re not going to speak to your points. If you’re going to come to our meeting and talk about it, that’s great. That pushed me over the edge.”

Carus did not answer directly Wednesday whether it would attend a future City Council meeting or host its own public meeting to communicate with residents. The company said it is committed to being a good neighbor and has communicated with “the mayor and his team, customers and neighbors,” and that it stands by the testing results from the U.S. and Illinois EPA.

“I live and work in La Salle-Peru and my kids go to school here and play at the same parks as all neighborhood kids,” said Lyndsay Bliss, vice president of human resources and communications. “I am as deeply invested in the safety of our community and environment as my neighbors. That’s why I can say, with 100% confidence, that Carus is committed to the same. We have closely followed the findings and opinions of U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA as we have recovered from the fire. These two organizations are the gold standard when it comes to ensuring environmental and community safety and I trust them completely in ensuring the safety of my family.”

Grove held a sign that said “Be a good neighbor” with an arrow pointing to the headquarters, while Dyas held a sign that said “Carus.”

Residents plan to have a volunteer from the Sierra Club attend the April 17 council meeting to present more options for testing for materials.