[CPEO-MEF] Camp Ellis (IL) ordnance

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Illinois' own vestiges of war

Downstate residents fear what lies buried under old Camp Ellis

By E.A. Torriero
Chicago Tribune 
December 19, 2004

TABLE GROVE, Ill. -- Two water towers, a graffiti-pocked wall of a rifle
range, a few chimneys and remnants of a sewage plant are monuments to
what was once the sprawling World War II training ground of Camp Ellis.

But for decades, nearby residents have suspected that more remains of
Camp Ellis than meets the eye. Buried beneath farming fields and
forests, they say, are not just rotting military equipment and
leftovers--Jeeps, pianos, even baked hams--but also the dangerous and
possibly still active residue of war.

Now, more than half a century after the last shots were fired at the
training facility and the 2,300 buildings dismantled, the federal
government wants to determine the extent of what is left at Camp Ellis
and eliminate possible threats.

After $2 million of study and assessment, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers has a plan to comb for and then rid the ex-Army grounds of
rockets, mortar rounds, shells, mines and other unexploded ordnance.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0412190219dec19,1,6395999.story



-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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