Illinois AG Files Petition Against Salvage Yard

The state of Illinois’s Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, have filed a Petition to Enforce in Cook County Circuit Court against Bob Bily, the owner of Cal Sag Auto, a Lemont Township, Ill., auto salvage yard.

The petition outlines Bily’s repeated failure to comply with a May 2001 court order that he clean up his Lemont property. Bily has ignored the court order so long that if the court awards the stipulated penalties provided for in the 2001 order, those penalties of $100 each day for non-compliance would total $94,200 as of today.

"This junkyard threatens the public and economic health of Lemont and its residents, along with its environment," Madigan said. "It is unacceptable, unsanitary and unsightly. We will use every tool available to force Mr. Bily to clean up this infamous Lemont landmark."

Nearly three years ago, in May 2001, the court ordered Bily to clean up his property and pay fines of $12,000. Bily paid the fines, but never cleaned up the junkyard. As a result, the property continues to be an environmental and public health concern because of thousands of old tires, rusting vehicles and auto parts on his more than 40 acres that border the Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor.

Madigan’s motion requests that the Circuit Court take a number of actions against Bily, including (1) finding him in contempt of court for his failure to comply with the 2001 court order, (2) imposing penalties of $100 per day for every day he has been in violation since June 1, 2001, (3) ordering him to cease and desist from taking more junk onto his property and (4) complying with all aspects of the 2001 order in terms of cleanup of the property.

Following the May 2001 court order, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency visited the site three separate times to evaluate compliance. On each visit – May 23, 2001, January 23, 2002 and January 22, 2004 – the IEPA observed multiple violations of the court order.

The current violations concern the thousands of unusable tires that litter Bily’s property. The 2001 court order allowed for only one semi-trailer of tires to remain on the property; however, Madigan’s motion cites three semi-trailers filled with approximately 3,000 used tires that remain on Bily’s property. Additionally, about 5,000 tires remain scattered across the property.

According to Madigan’s motion, additional violations stem from Bily’s failure to remove soil contaminated with automotive fluids and Bily’s continued open dumping. The IEPA reported salvaged scrap metal remained on the site as well as piles of lead acid batteries, both of which Bily had been ordered to remove in 2001.

In February 2004, the IEPA referred the numerous violations found during its visits to Madigan’s office for further action.