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With the La Salle City Council aiming to remove a truck route on Porter Avenue that leads to a Carus LLC warehouse, the company announced Monday it will discontinue use of the warehouse and remove all remaining equipment and spare parts stored in it.
The warehouse, located north of Porter Avenue and east of Zinc Street, already had all chemicals removed from it this spring, the company said.
Additionally, Carus Vice President of Human Resources Lyndsay Bliss confirmed discussion the company’s leaders had with aldermen Bob Thompson and Jordan Crane about donating an air quality monitor to the city and plans to organize a task force to create an emergency response plan for the neighborhood in the event of another emergency at the chemical facility. The chemical plant has its own emergency response plan, but this would create one for the neighborhood around the facility. She said Carus will release more details on those items as they are worked out.
La Salle residents have regularly expressed concerns at City Council meeting since the Jan. 11 fire about air quality in the neighborhood and the immediate response in the aftermath of the fire.
Thompson said Carus’ actions are “a huge leap forward.”
“I commend them,” he said. “I think it’s good news for the community. It’s the right thing to do.”
La Salle residents also had expressed their concerns to the City Council about having a chemical warehouse in their neighborhood. The warehouse was not involved in the fire, but was registered as a Tier II chemical storage facility.
Carus said its decision to remove the chemicals was because of the inconvenience the truck traffic caused neighbors surrounding the warehouse.
Most chemicals were removed from the warehouse, known by the company as the Apollo warehouse, by Feb. 15 when the city of La Salle had asked Carus to remove all remaining chemicals from the warehouse. Carus said Monday it removed all remaining chemicals, which was six truckloads, by March 3.
Most of the DOT non-hazardous chemicals removed from Apollo Warehouse were transported to Carus’ La Salle manufacturing plant to be used in production, while a small portion was moved to the Lotz Warehouse in Ottawa, the company said.
Though the company said there are no longer any chemicals stored in Apollo warehouse, Carus still will submit the 2023 Tier II Report in March of 2024 since there were chemicals stored in the warehouse until March 3.
“We’ve secured an alternative storage location for the remaining equipment and spare parts, and our team has put together an aggressive plan to remove everything in roughly two to three weeks’ timeframe, with an estimated 30 truckloads or more,” said Allen Gibbs, vice president of operations at Carus. “Our hope is that our exit strategy from Apollo is not too much of an inconvenience for our neighbors, and we will work to complete these efforts as quickly as we can.”
Notices were issued by the city to property owners within the neighborhood of the truck route. The city said the matter will be discussed at 6 p.m. Monday, June 26, at the city’s Streets, Alleys and Traffic Committee, following the Finance Committee. Public comment will be taken at the meeting. The City Council will have the final vote on the truck route’s removal.
Carus LLC will host its second public meeting 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, at Matthiessen Auditorium in La Salle-Peru High School. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to hear from Carus leadership at the meeting.