Times change, technology advances and knowledge grows. We now know that the way manufactured gas was made in the past caused unintended consequences for the environment. We restore these areas to improve the natural environment.
The history of manufactured gas plants
From the early 1800s until the 1960s, local plants manufactured gas for heating and lighting. These plants were the pride of many cities because gas was a better source of energy. Gas lights replaced oil lamps, and gas eliminated the need to cook and heat with wood or coal. The plants prospered until more affordable, cleaner natural gas began to arrive by pipeline. There were about 2,000 to 2,500 gas plant sites in the U.S.
The former Peoples Gas Crawford Site is located in Chicago. It was built in 1921 as a gas production and storage facility and was one of the largest facilities of its kind. It was operated as such until 1963. In the late 1960s, the aboveground manufactured gas plant (MGP) structures were removed.
Environmental issues with manufactured gas plants
The process of manufacturing gas resulted in byproducts. These included tars, oils and wood chips. Many plants sold the byproducts, especially the coal tar, which could be distilled and used in dozens of products, including fuels, fertilizer, creosote, plastics and pharmaceuticals.
Byproducts that could not be sold were sometimes left on-site. At most plants, storage tanks were made of wood or brick, with piping and other equipment that may have leaked. When the plants were demolished, some waste may have been left on-site. At the time, there were no regulations for disposing of such materials, and these practices were common nationwide. However, the result is that some byproducts are still present in the soil today. At the depths where they typically occur, they don’t present a hazard to people on or near the site. But they do need to be cleaned up to protect groundwater beneath the site.
The chemicals under the sites fall into three main categories:
- Volatile organic compounds, like those found in gasoline.
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are present in byproducts of incomplete combustion (such as car exhaust), asphalt roads, roofing tars, grilled food and other common materials.
- Inorganic compounds such as metals, which came from the coal and gas purifying process.
We're helping to clean up Chicago
In 2011, Peoples Gas joined forces with the Illinois and United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove significant sources of MGP contamination in the soil. The process included demolition and removal of old underground foundations, and landfill disposal of impacted soil and debris. To date, we have removed over 850,000 cubic yards of impacted material, making this one of the largest MGP cleanups in the country.
As with all MGP cleanups, odors may occur during the project. The odors are similar to that of mothballs or asphalt.
We took action to help control the odor by:
- Applying a foam that helped to limit odor.
- Covering exposed material with plastic sheeting.
- Using a misting system around the edge of the project.
Air samples are collected during all of our environmental cleanup projects. The samples are analyzed and reviewed by the EPA. We do this to confirm that nothing harmful was released into the air.
Peoples Gas successfully completed these remediation efforts in 2016.
Current remediation efforts
Crawford site:
A new remediation project on the Crawford site began in September 2023. Work is occurring on two parcels of land on the southwest part of the site and involves cleaning up approximately 385,000 cubic yards of soil. The work will again be overseen by the EPA.
If you have questions about the project, please contact us at 312-240-7765.
We are partnering with a number of local vendors and diverse suppliers to complete the project.
Mutual Fuel site:
Initial remediation work on the Mutual Fuel site was successfully conducted in 2018 and 2019. Following plan development, a second phase of remediation work is now beginning. It involves cleaning up approximately 12,000 cubic yards of soil. The work is being completed under the guidance of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
We are partnering with a number of diverse suppliers to complete the project.
If you have questions about the project, please contact us at 312-240-3931.
