Illinois’ top environmental regulator says the feds are walking away from a mess that still is not cleaned up. Months after a massive spill of liquid asphalt into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, sticky material is still smeared along the shoreline, and state officials say wildlife and water-quality concerns have not gone away. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, is signaling that most of the hard work is done, leaving Illinois and the company that owns the terminal to argue with federal officials over who is on the hook for the rest of the monitoring and cleanup.
EPA Orders Cleanup, Then Backs Off
In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Petroleum Fuel & Terminal Co. to pull spilled asphalt out of the canal……