Chicago Tribune: Nearly a year after a toxic asphalt spill in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, state and local officials and environmental advocates say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended the cleanup effort before it was completed.

A week before Thanksgiving, the agency posted a notice on its website that federal operations in the canal had been concluded.

“That was kind of shocking that (the EPA) is not living up to the things that they need to do, protecting the environment and monitoring this,” said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council. “It was a half-million gallons of liquid asphalt that was just poured into the river. That’s incredibly problematic.”

The thick, tar-like asphalt sludge contains a mixture of harmful carcinogens and heavy metals like lead, mercury and arsenic, making spills toxic to humans and animals.

The U.S. EPA found Petroleum Fuel & Terminal Co. responsible for polluting the waterways in Bedford Park and Forest View but did not issue the company any citations or penalties during its months of oversight.

More than 2,000 tons of asphalt were recovered and more than 100 animals rescued and rehabilitated, the costs of which were borne by PF&T, said U.S. EPA spokesperson David Shark.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which is now overseeing the site, observed asphalt in the canal and along the shoreline after the cleanup was reported complete, said IEPA spokesperson Kim Biggs in a statement last week.

On Dec. 5, the IEPA sent a notice to PF&T citing it for violating its agreement with the U.S. EPA, Biggs said. The agency is awaiting PF&T’s response to the allegations.

PF&T did not respond to repeated requests from the Tribune for comment.

The U.S. EPA’s decision to withdraw from the cleanup comes as the administration of President Donald Trump rolls back the agency’s authority and pushes to cut its budget in half in 2026. Across Illinois, lagging federal oversight on issues like coal ash cleanups has posed an ongoing threat to environmental health.

Cameron Davis, a commissioner with the Metropolitan Water and Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and a former senior adviser on Great Lakes restoration efforts in the administration of President Barack Obama, called the U.S. EPA’s sudden withdrawal “premature.” It signals weakened cooperation between federal and state agencies and a broader trend of cutting corners on environmental health under the Trump administration, he said.

“In my experience at EPA before joining MWRD, there would be lots of discussion between the U.S. EPA and the state,” Davis said. “In this case, we saw the Trump administration pull the rug out from underneath Illinois and surprise the state with its decision.”

IEPA acting Director James Jennings wrote a letter in November to EPA Region 5 Regional Administrator Anne Vogel urging the agency to reconsider its decision.

“Given the significant nature of this liquid asphalt release, the response necessitates maintaining a combined state and federal effort,” Jennings wrote. “Effective coordination between our two agencies is imperative.”

In his letter, Jennings noted the spill affected water quality over 3 miles downstream and required a cooperative effort between the federal and state agencies.

He also cited a similar state-federal cleanup model that helped the EPA address recent environmental disasters like the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. 

Walling said the federal exit could compromise the canal’s restoration.

“Now (IEPA) is holding the bag and now they’re responsible, and it just means spending time and resources that have already been spent for something that the U.S. EPA should have continued to do,” Walling said.

An oily mess

PF&T distributes petroleum-based asphalt products in Chicago and is owned by St. Louis-based Apex Oil Co. On Feb. 4, a pipe failure at PF&T’s storage facility caused toxic asphalt sludge to spill into the canal, according to EPA investigations.

The petroleum company leases 24 acres along the canal from MWRD, according to Davis.

The stretch of the canal where the spill occurred runs parallel to the Des Plaines River and is near the Portage Woods Forest Preserve, a scenic park in Lyons popular with runners, naturalists and dog walkers.

Barbed wires separate the park trails from the canal, where leftover asphalt coats the banks. Hidden from view and inaccessible from the park, the spill site has gone unnoticed by many park-goers.

The 28-mile, human-made waterway, opened in 1900, was designed to reverse the flow of the Chicago River. Because the canal lacks the natural curves of a river, Davis explained, it is a confined, straight channel where pollutants can move quickly along its length.

At the height of the spill, ducks, snakes and birds were among the victims of PF&T’s spill in the canal.

Justin Sharp, a wildlife care supervisor at the DuPage Conservation Center who treated some of the animals after the spill, said the high numbers were unusual.

“This was abnormal in the scope, the amount of patients,” Sharp said. “We haven’t had that many patients come in from one contamination.”

From June to August, Sharp said he treated 30 orphaned mallard ducklings, 13 water snakes, a tree swallow and a dove that were covered in oil.

Although the spill happened in February, the effects of the liquid asphalt weren’t noticeable to cleanup workers until the summer months, Walling said.

“Part of the problem with it is that the asphalt freezes and it sinks, and then when it unfreezes, it comes back up,” she said. “It may not be currently visible, but it’s been on and off with the weather.”

Walling said she worries more asphalt could surface this summer because it hasn’t all been removed.

Under stress

Advocacy groups like Friends of the Chicago River also are concerned about lasting impacts to Chicago’s waterways.

“Our natural assets are already at risk and under stress from urbanization and the climate crisis so ‘good enough’ is no longer an option with accidents like the one that took place along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Forest View,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. “The bad old days for the river are over, and we need to keep it that way.”

Shark said the EPA will receive a final report from PF&T and consult with IEPA on whether further cleanup actions are needed.

Davis said he hopes this case is a reminder that cooperation is necessary at all levels of government to tackle industrial accidents that threaten natural ecosystems.

“Some of these spills, some of these emergencies can be so complex that it really does take a multigovernmental approach to addressing them,” Davis said. “It takes the feds, it takes the state, it takes municipalities. And if any one of those legs get pulled out from underneath the stool, the public health and environmental stool collapses.”