Illinois’ ongoing budget impasse has forced many nonprofits and state agencies to lay off workers, trim services or even shut down. That vulnerability is also impacting state environmental contractors, and that could pose a public health concern.
At the site of the Marathon Gas station at University and War Memorial Drive there’s a gaping hole in the pavement, where filling pumps used to be. Marlin Environmental Incorporated senior project manager MikeBettenhausen and project manager Cody Luckett, project manager, are overseeing the removal of underground gasoline storage tanks.
"And most of the sites with these old steel tanks, those tanks only hold up for so long, that’s why we’re required to take them out because they fail tests, the piping everything, it corrodes eventually, and then it leaks into the ground," Luckett said.
Marlin is one of about ten environmental companies qualified in Illinois to replace the aging steel tanks with new fiberglass ones. The new tanks last up to 50 years, and have monitors that alert gas station owners if there’s a leak.
But Marlin Environmental and companies like it are paid in part from the state Leaking Underground Storage Tank or LUST Fund. It collects about a cent for every gallon of gasoline sold.
“Through the LUST Fund we’re paid to make sure that if there is contamination it doesn’t spread, and if it did spread, where’s it at, we test the soil, we test the groundwater,” Bettenhausen said.
That money hasn’t been distributed since the impasse started. Marlin Environmental hasn’t been paid by the state since July.
“We cannot continue too much longer. We’re going to be unemployed here shortly, us two, within a few weeks," Bettenhausen said.
Marlin’s senior engineer says the company has had to trim benefits, reduce hours and lower compensation. And one of its competitors already laid off two workers. That constitutes 20 percent of the small contractor’s employees.
Bettenhausen says with fewer workers and companies doing this work, the dicier things get. Sites with corroded tanks could continue to leach gas into groundwater.
Marlin Environmental says its line of credit was up for renewal last month -- but the bank didn’t renew because of a lack of faith in the state of Illinois.
