"Yes, I do want a park at Meigs Field," Daley said.
But there are questions about whether that's financially feasible.
CBS 2 poured through thousands of pages of city and state documents
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. They detail the
history of pollution at the site.
We showed them to experts, including a Naperville lawyer experienced in
environmental law.
"Airports are notorious for all kinds of petroleum products being
dumped there. So you've got very, very, very dirty soil. It really is a
toxic waste dump," said environmental lawyer Shawn Collins.

A map prepared by the city's own environmental consultant shows where
soil tests found toxins called polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons or
PNAs at levels that exceed Environmental Protection Agency acceptable
standards.
"These are known and suspected to cause cancer in humans," said Wilma
Subra, a nationally recognized environmental scientist, who has served
on EPA advisory committees.
"They're very, very deep, and it's very toxic," Subra said.
The chemicals are the by-product of aircraft emissions, refueling
operations, and spills that occurred over 50 years, and they were found
up to 9 feet below ground.

A map from another city consultant's report shows where the park
district removed just 9 inches of contaminated soil. It was replaced
with a protective fabric and clean top soil.
Subra says the 9-inch solution was just a cover up.
"They know that everything below the 9 inches is contaminated and they
are not addressing that," she said.
And what's below those 9 inches is important because future plans for
Northerly Island may include wetlands, sand dunes, a wildlife preserve
and even a river dug through the property.
"What are you going to do with the environmental problems you now
unleash?" Collins said.

But that's not all. Behind this fence, there was a fuel spill from an
underground tank leak in 1993.
The state EPA later designated the leak as a "high priority" clean-up
project but didn't get Meigs to clean it up before the airport was shut
down.
"For an environmental leak from an underground storage tank to go
unremediated for 10 years is really a disgrace," Collins said. "The
environment is at stake. Human health may be at stake."
Subra said tests done by a city consultant showed that a toxic chemical
at one location was 300 times the acceptable limit.
After the park district inherited the problem, once again it covered
the former underground tank site with fabric, 9 inches of top soil and
fenced in the area.
"Just putting a fence around it and letting it seep and flow and be
discharged into the soil, the land and water is inappropriate," Subra
said.

The park district declined to go on camera, but its environmental
consultant says that "we are adequately protecting human health and the
environment with the barriers that are in place."
"Redevelopment will dictate how each of these areas of contamination
are managed," he said.
"It may be impossible to do financially," Subra said.
"We don't think it's overwhelming," Daley said.

CBS 2's Pam Zekman showed the mayor what the park district's own
consultants have found and their warning that additional clean up may
be needed.
"Oh yeah, anytime you open any land up you have to remediate. You have
to do testing. You have to do borings. And that will all be public
knowledge when we do it," Daley said.
"Why not do that before the airport was destroyed?" Zekman asked.

"Because the court would enjoin us and would enjoin you immediately,"
Daley said.

A court injunction could have delayed or stopped the project. For now,
the park district's consultant says monthly inspections must be done
to be sure the nine inch barrier is not penetrated."

GA Santa Strikes Again !, JG