Libra Industries Paid $100,675 for Storing Toxic Chemicals Without Required Safeguards in Elk Grove Village
An Illinois industrial company generated hazardous dry-cleaning solvent waste and stored it for years without safety labels, daily tank inspections, or the required engineering sign-off on its storage system.
Libra Industries, an Elk Grove Village, Illinois company that cleans used industrial safety equipment, generates large quantities of tetrachloroethylene waste, a toxic solvent and probable human carcinogen. Federal law requires strict labeling, daily monitoring, and engineering certification for companies storing this much hazardous waste. When the EPA inspected the facility in March 2024, it found unlabeled containers, an open hazardous waste container, a storage tank that had never been assessed by a licensed engineer, and no record of daily tank inspections. These are not bureaucratic oversights. Proper labeling and inspection exist because undetected leaks or failures can contaminate groundwater, harm workers, and expose communities to toxic chemicals. Libra agreed to pay $100,675 to settle the case.
Industrial facilities generating hazardous waste near your community have legal obligations to handle it safely. Lax enforcement lets those obligations slide.
⚠️ Core Allegations
| 01 | Libra Industries laundered used industrial safety equipment using tetrachloroethylene in dry-clean machines, generating tetrachloroethylene waste at quantities exceeding 1,000 kg per month, classifying it as a Large Quantity Generator under federal law. | high |
| 02 | During the March 2024 EPA inspection, regulators found two hazardous waste containers without any accumulation start date label, including one tote and one container in the secondary containment area of the storage tank. A hazardous waste storage tank was also unlabeled with its accumulation start date. | med |
| 03 | The same two unlabeled containers also lacked the required “Hazardous Waste” designation marking. Proper labeling is required to protect workers, emergency responders, and regulators who may encounter these containers without prior knowledge of their contents. | med |
| 04 | EPA inspectors observed one open hazardous waste container at a time when Libra was not actively adding or removing waste from it. Hazardous waste containers must remain closed during storage to prevent toxic vapor release and environmental contamination. | med |
| 05 | Libra had never obtained the required written structural assessment of its hazardous waste storage tank from a qualified Professional Engineer. This assessment exists to verify that the tank will not collapse, rupture, or fail under the corrosive conditions of chemical storage. | high |
| 06 | Libra failed to conduct daily inspections of its hazardous waste storage tank as required by law. Without daily monitoring of leak detection equipment, a tank failure could go undetected for extended periods, risking soil and groundwater contamination. | high |
| 01 | Libra has operated as a Large Quantity Generator of hazardous waste since at least May 2008, when it submitted its Hazardous Waste Notification to the EPA. It operated for over 15 years before the 2024 inspection revealed these violations. | high |
| 02 | Illinois was authorized to administer the federal RCRA hazardous waste program since 1986. The state-level program that was supposed to govern Libra’s operations was itself in a regulatory limbo: Illinois updated its hazardous waste rules in 2018 but EPA had not yet authorized the new rules, leaving the older regulations in effect. | med |
| 03 | Libra had no permit to treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste at its facility and did not have interim status. The company relied entirely on a regulatory exemption available only to generators who fully comply with storage requirements. Its violations voided the basis for that exemption. | high |
| 04 | The gap between the April 2024 violation notice and the January 2026 settlement, nearly two years, illustrates how slow formal enforcement timelines can be even after violations are documented by federal inspectors. | med |
| 01 | Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or PERC, is classified by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen. Long-term exposure is associated with increased risk of cancer, liver damage, kidney damage, and neurological effects. | high |
| 02 | Elk Grove Village is a densely developed industrial suburb of Chicago with numerous facilities, workers, and nearby residential areas. Unmonitored hazardous chemical storage in this environment poses real contamination risk to soil, groundwater, and air quality. | med |
| 03 | The absence of daily tank inspections means that small leaks, cracks, or fitting failures could persist undetected and allow tetrachloroethylene to migrate into the surrounding environment before any corrective action is taken. | high |
| 04 | Workers at the facility who encountered unlabeled containers storing hazardous tetrachloroethylene waste had no way of knowing the containers’ contents from the labeling alone, creating a direct occupational exposure risk. | med |
🕐 Timeline
💬 From the Legal Record
“U.S. EPA may issue an order assessing a civil penalty for any past or current violation, requiring compliance immediately or within a specified period of time, or both. Pursuant to Section 3008(a) of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. § 6928(a), and 40 C.F.R. Part 19, the Administrator of U.S. EPA may assess a civil penalty of up to $124,426 per day for each violation.”
💡 The potential daily maximum penalty was over $124,000 per violation, per day. The $100,675 total settlement represents a very significant reduction, suggesting substantial cooperation from Libra.
“The owner or operator must obtain a written assessment reviewed and certified by a qualified Professional Engineer attesting that the system has sufficient structural integrity and is acceptable for the storing and treating of hazardous waste.”
💡 This requirement exists specifically to prevent tank failures. Libra stored hazardous chemicals in a tank that had never been certified safe by any engineer.
“The owner or operator must inspect, where present, at least once each operating day, data gathered from monitoring and leak detection equipment to ensure that the tank system is being operated according to its design.”
💡 Daily inspections are the primary early-warning system against uncontrolled toxic releases. Libra was not conducting them.
💬 Commentary
Libra Industries can be reached by calling 1-800-888-5427 or by emailing info@librasafety.com
I have reached out to Libra Industries for a quote on this scandal and have not yet received an answer yet.
The EPA’s CAFO on this case can be found by visiting: https://yosemite.epa.gov/OA/RHC/EPAAdmin.nsf/Filings/5555649976E75DA885258D8C006E0048/$File/RCRA-05-2026-0014_CAFO_LibraIndustriesInc_ElkGroveVillageIllinois_18PGS.pdf
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