CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - "The most important thing for people to understand is that there is a registered toxic site in the middle of a residential neighborhood."

Champaign residents are demanding change around a toxic work site owned by Ameren, located on 5th and Hill Street in Champaign. 

"The toxic site is a former manufactured gas plant, and the property is owned by Ameren and Ameren is responsible for cleaning up the contamination from that toxic site, and we've been fighting for this cleanup for a thorough cleanup since late 2007,"  Claudia Lennhoff, the executive director of Champaign County Healthcare Consumers and Lead Organizer of the 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign, said.

Lennhoff mentions the health dangers for those living near the toxic work site.

"There is a lot of coal tar that is under the ground in that neighborhood and coal tar, in and of itself is a toxic soup made up of chemicals like benzene and naphthalene and all kinds of other really toxic carcinogenic chemicals. And the way that the toxic site poses a risk to neighborhood residents, is because those toxins underground can move through the soil, through air pockets in the soil and through the groundwater," Lennhoff told WAND News. 

She said the toxins enter homes in the form of dangerous vapors.

"It's called indoor vapor intrusion. We believe that a lot of neighborhood residents are actually affected in their homes by indoor vapor and vapor intrusion," she said.

These toxins pose serious health risks, according to Lennhoff. 

"People have chronic exposure to toxic chemicals that can affect their health, and most of the residents don't even know about it, because the communications from the Illinois EPA and Ameren have been very minimal, and they tend to not even mention the words toxic, or contamination. And so people just don't know what's happening in their own neighborhood," Lennhoff said.

Lennhoff said the campaign does go around and drop off literature and information to residents who may not understand the gravity of living near the site. The campaign is calling for three main demands from Ameren Illinois to help alleviate the toxic situation many residents are exposed to. 

Their first demand is for Ameren to properly inform residents about the work site, without holding back any information.

"Residents have a right to know and information should be provided to residents and the community in a transparent and accessible understandable kind of way. No more gaslighting and pretending like this is not a problem," Lennhoff said.

Secondly, Lennhoff pushed for a thorough investigation on the work site.

"We want a much larger investigation to try to find the remaining contamination in the neighborhood of Ameren's own property," Lennhoff said.

She said the campaign wants to push Ameren to investigate and test the soil in the surrounding areas to have accurate data on the contamination in the land. 

"If you don't investigate it, you don't find it," Lennhoff said. "And if you don't find it, you don't clean it up. And that's what we're afraid of. This will affect generations to come that move into this neighborhood."

Lastly, the 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights campaign pushed for someone to pay for Vapor mitigation systems to be installed in nearby homes. 

"Vapor mitigation systems are used commonly in Illinois for homes that have been affected by radon gas which comes up through the soil and enters people's homes," Lennhoff said. "The systems, what they do, they're pretty simple. They just basically pull air out of the home and vented out into the atmosphere, and that would help reduce potential exposure for people and reduce harm, it won't save the lives of the people who have already died because of rare and aggressive cancers that we attribute to this contamination, it won't. It won't help heal the people who are already sick, but it can help prevent further illness and death."

For any nearby residents or anyone concerned about the toxic work site on 5th and Hill Street, they are encouraged to contact the 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign.Â