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No Word On Local Kroger Store Situation

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(TAYLORVILLE) — More than a week has past since the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has closed the local Kroger grocery store, 201 E. Bidwell in Taylorville due to improper removal of asbestos during a construction project. Since its closing, little to no information from the EPA regarding the situation has been released. Calls from the Breeze-Courier to the EPA have gone unanswered. See story below on the situation.

(Lucas Domonosky/Breeze-Courier Photo)

Mystery still surrounds Kroger situation

TAYLORVILLE — The Kroger Grocery store in Taylorville was closed following improper handling ofAsbestosonJuly29,2022. Now, nearly two weeks later, information about what is happening in the sealed store is still scarce.

The Breeze-Courier reached out to the Christian County Health Department Administer and Director of Environmental Health, Greg Seiders, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in an attempt to figure out what was going on. However, Seiders did not know any more than the public.

“I have not got anymore details,” Seiders said. “I had a little Q&A to put up on Facebook. Ironically, about the time I was getting ready to put that up, the guy fro the IEPA contacted me and said hold off on putting that up and that he wanted to send me an updated version of what I got. I still have not heard back from him.

As far as reopening or anymore details, I do not have anymore on that. I will be reaching out to them, because we have to go in for a thorough inspection before they reopen, but that is all the details I have at this time.”

Taylorville Mayor Bruce Barry was also contacted by the Breeze on Tuesday to see if he had heard anything. They Mayor said: “I haven’t heard anything official. I call them every day, but I get the run around.”

Mayor Barry explained he had no information about when the store was going to reopen, or why it appeared that no activity was happening in the sealed store.

As of the time of printing, The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had not provided the Breeze-Courier with any information.

The Breeze-Courier contacted Taylorville Treasurer Valerie Miles to try and determine how much sales tax revenue was being lost by the continued closure of the store. At the time of printing, Miles was unable to provide the numbers herself. However, she had put in a request with the state for a report. If and when the amount of sales tax revenue Kroger brings to the City is known, the Breeze-Courier will publish it.

The paper also contacted Eric Halvorson, the Manager of Corporate Affairs for Kroger, to try and figure out what was being done with the store. He provided the following statement:

“The company is diligently working with the EPA and expert remediation partners

to analyze and address the issue. With safety as one of our core values, we will reopen as soon as the EPA rescinds theorderandweareableto do so safely. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers and community and plan to reopen as quickly as possible. We have approximately 90 associates in Taylorville, and we offered them several options. Anyone who wanted to work has been able to do so at our stores in Decatur. Others chose to take leave. Some are taking this time as vacation. So, each associate made the choice that was best for them.”

As soon as more information is available about the situation at the Kroger store, the Breeze-Courier will publish it. For now, the paper will continue to try and pursue information through the means available to us.

 

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