Former worker speaks out about potentially cancer-causing chemicals being dumped outdoors, near a neighborhood where people fell ill
UNION, Ill. (CBS) -- The Village of Union is best known for being home to the historic Illinois Railway Museum.
About 500 people live in the community surrounded by farmland and manufacturing plants.
Union is where Dana Harper grew up. Now 48 years old, she went to school and played in Union's parks. She didn't know there was a secret in her hometown -- one, she says, that changed the course of her life.
"We knew there were chemical companies there," said Harper. "But I was a child and wasn't paying attention to what was being done."
The Harper family home sits near two businesses accused of dumping highly toxic chemicals into the land and keeping the danger a secret from neighbors for decades. The businesses deny the allegations.
"I wasn't feeling well for years before I found out," said Harper, who never thought much about the plants back then -- but is haunted by them now.
"I believe for 20 plus years, I was slowly poisoned by these hazardous chemicals," said Harper.
One plant, Phibro-Tech -- later bought and sold -- is no longer operating in Union. Decades-old tests show the ground was contaminated.
Land around another plant, Central Wire -- which was once Techalloy -- also had contamination.
Square-shaped pipes stick up from the ground near both sites. Those are monitoring wells drilled deep in the ground to keep tabs on pollution. One sits at the end of Donna Harper's Street.
Harper said when she looks at the pipe she thinks of, "Chemicals being dumped."
In 2017, Harper found a lump on her neck near her collarbone. She was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and went through grueling treatment.
"I was devastated," said Harper. "I was scared to death."
Now, for the first time, the former head of maintenance at Techalloy tells what he believes about the company's handling of chemicals. In sworn testimony related to Harper's lawsuit, Scott Karr alleged that thousands of gallons of a toxic cleaning fluid containing TCE, trichloroethylene, was dumped outside by other workers.
"They would take 800-gallon vats and dump them on the ground," said Karr.
He claimed workers dumped chemicals on the side of the building. An attorney questions him, "And you're referring to Johnson Street as where Dana Harper lives?"
"Yes," replied Karr.
TCE is a cancer-causing chemical that, over time, turns into vinyl chloride and DCE, dichloroethylene. They become vapors and can seep into homes. Records reported to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in 1990 reveal dichloroethylene was found on Harper's street.
"It's an uncurable (sic) disease," said Harper, who believes the chemicals caused her cancer.
She says dozen of neighbors on her street have had cancer, even died from it, through the years.
"I would say 30 that I know of," said Harper.
One of those who died was her mother, Donna Gahl. She was diagnosed with blood cancer, multiple myeloma, at age 65. She died two years later in 2003. Her husband, Harold Gahl, is still grieving.
"It's a terrible feeling," said Gahl about such a terrible loss. "You're never the same - never."
Gahl believes his wife's cancer and his daughter's cancer are connected.
"I would have never built there that's for sure," said Gahl. "Never thought about the chemicals."
Neither did the insider.
"I used to put my hands in it, straight up, with no rubber gloves or nothing and a brush - clean the wire," said Karr.
He says for years, they would dump vats of TCE outdoors to get rid of it, until they learned the truth about what they were dumping.
"The chemical was dangerous to people, and what it did to the environment," said Karr.
In 1990, the U.S. EPA required Techalloy to do a cleanup - which is still going on over 30 years later.
At the site of what was once Phibro-Tech, the IL EPA has been dealing with a voluntary clean-up.
The Harper family's attorney is Stephan Blandin.
"There's literally a chart of chemicals that were in the soil and water," said Blandin. "The focus was TCE, because it was right next to a school, a grammar school."
Harper wants new tests performed at her old grammar school.
"All the kids that attended Evergreen Park school," said Harper concerned there may be others with related cancers.
When asked how many people in the community have had cancer, Blandin said, "There's no way of knowing, in part, because so many kids moved away."
"I always thought these companies came to Union because it's a small community and they can get away with more than they could," said Gahl.
Getting back to Scott Karr, he is not only an insider -- he is also sick.
"I got colon, liver, and I think bladder," said Karr.
As he deals with lengthy health battles, Karr said the community will be dealing with an extended clean-up.
"We're going to be long dead," said Karr about when he expects the clean-up to be done.
We have reached out to the companies in Donna Harper's lawsuit, but have not received any comment.
In court filings, each denied contaminating the area and causing any illnesses. Phibro-Tech stated they did not use TCE and PCE. Central Wire, which bought Techalloy, said it complied with safety standards.
So far, eight other people from Dana Harper's neighborhood have filed lawsuits and say they got sick too.
Harper wants updated chemical testing done at her old school.
