CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the state's attorney in Winnebago County have filed suit against Chemtool, the owner of the Rockton plant that went up in flames last month.
The lawsuit filed Friday said the June 14 fire and the efforts to put it out sent contaminants into the environment.
Officials are demanding Chemtool pay for environmental costs associated with the fire.
“The Chemtool fire rattled the community, displaced residents, and took the combined resources and efforts of several fire departments to get under control,” Raoul said in a prepared statement. “Although the flames have been extinguished, the hazard posed to the public and the environment continues.”
Several fire departments in Illinois and Wisconsin fought the fire, which burned for several days and generated dark plumes of smoke, before an evacuation order was lifted on June 18.
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