Old tunnel found on Reliant site means more money for cleanup
ROCK FALLS – The Reliant cleanup is about to cost about $40,000 more than expected, now that the city has discovered a 250-foot-long, 5-by-7-foot tunnel that needs to be cleaned out.
The tunnel, which Building Inspector Mark Searing guesses was used to run used oil to tanks, runs parallel to the river and is in the middle of the property.
The City Council on Tuesday approved adding the $37,000 to the city’s $400,000 site cleanup loan, which will be paid back to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency over 15 years with money earned from the site’s redevelopment.
The city would like to have the tunnel cleaned out by the end of the fall, Searing said.
The IEPA originally gave the city the loan to be used to remove asbestos and demolish buildings on the eastern portion of the site. That work is scheduled to be completed by Jan. 1.
