GODFREY - Several residents say they are upset with the timeframe in which they have to prepare for an environmental hearing on a planned Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Alton attorney Deborah Greider of the Law Offices of Thomas E. Kennedy III represents a citizens' group called Sustainable Godfrey, made up of about 50 people protesting the Wal-Mart Supercenter planned for the former Joehl Alfalfa Queen Farm property.

The hearing is being held by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to get input needed to determine whether the agency will issue a Section 401 development permit under the Clean Water Act. Greider says the hearing itself is helpful, but the agency failed to give people enough time and enough public documents to prepare arguments against the permit.

The hearing is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lewis and Clark Community College's Advanced Technology Center, Room 141, 5800 Godfrey Road.

Greider is working in conjunction with Penny Livingston, an environmental attorney, and other volunteers and environmentalists. On Thursday, Greider said she finally received more than 400 pages of IEPA documentation on a disc obtained by Livingston Law Firm, which had a representative personally pick up the information from the IEPA in Springfield.

IEPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson said the agency received a Freedom of Information Act request from the Livingston Law Firm via U.S. mail on May 9. She said the IEPA then sent a letter on May 14 to the firm's Crystal Ehlen to schedule an appointment to modify the request. FOI responses with more than 400 pages exceed the maximum allowed at no cost, and modifications or appointments must be made to obtain the excess information.

Carson said somebody representing the firm was in Springfield on Wednesday, reviewing files.

Carson said the IEPA responded appropriately to Greider's Freedom of Information Act requests, based on the information it received.

Carson said Greider's first request was logged in as received May 5, asking for the most recent "drinking water permit" for Wal-Mart Stores in Godfrey. Greider disputes this, saying she did not ask about drinking water, which had nothing to do with what she was searching for.

Full Story: http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/greider_14437___
article.html/iepa_information.html