Jamie Hicks                                                            

          Investigative Reporter                                          Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 

            When the Carus chemical plant exploded in LaSalle on January 11, 2023, it jolted the community awake to a danger many suspected but could never quite prove hazardous chemicals were being stored all around them, often in plain sight, and regulators weren’t telling the whole story.

One site, the Apollo warehouse on Porter Avenue, quickly became a flashpoint. Neighbors had complained for years. Families worried about what was inside. After the explosion, their fears intensified.

The answer had always been available — or so it seemed. Under federal law, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Carus LLC was required to file Tier II Hazardous Chemical Reports every year. These reports, submitted to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency – Office of Homeland Security (IEMA-OHS), detail the chemicals stored at each facility, their quantities, and their hazards. They are not optional. They are required by law, and they exist to protect first responders and the public.

For years, Apollo’s filings were visible in the state’s own database — the FOIA Tier II Hazardous Chemical Search portal. Search “LaSalle” or “Carus,” and there it was: Apollo Warehouse, Facility ID 018131, report years lined up in black and white.

But today, Apollo has been scrubbed from the record.

https://public.iema.state.il.us/FOIAHazmatSearch/T2Search.aspx

Search the same portal now, and Apollo does not exist. No reports. No history. No trace. It’s as if a chemical warehouse never operated across from homes on Porter Avenue.

This didn’t happen by accident. The only agency with the power to make Apollo vanish is IEMA-OHS itself — the state agency responsible for collecting, retaining, and publishing Tier II filings. The same agency that once posted the Apollo reports is the agency that has now erased them.

This didn’t happen by accident. The only agency with the power to make Apollo vanish is IEMA-OHS itself — the state agency responsible for collecting, retaining, and publishing Tier II filings. The same agency that once posted the Apollo reports is the agency that has now erased them.

Why would this happen?

To protect Carus. Apollo’s Tier II filings prove the company was running a hazardous chemical warehouse in a residential area for years. With those reports public, Carus faces accountability it would rather avoid.

To protect the State. If the filings remain visible, it confirms IEMA knew Apollo was there all along and allowed it to operate. Erasing them lets regulators dodge questions about how such a facility was ever approved.

To protect the City. Local leaders can claim ignorance if the paper trail disappears, even though the law required both the City and the LaSalle Fire Department to have those filings in hand.

Tier II reports are not just bureaucratic paperwork. They are life-or-death information. Firefighters rely on them when responding to a blaze. Residents rely on them to know what’s stored next door. Journalists and watchdogs rely on them to hold companies and governments accountable.

When IEMA-OHS deletes these records from public view, it robs the community of its legal right-to-know. It undermines the very purpose of EPCRA. And it signals that, in Illinois, the instinct to protect corporations and agencies outweighs the duty to protect people.

The timeline tells the story

• Before January 2023: Apollo’s Tier II reports are visible in the public database. Anyone can search and see the chemicals listed.

• January 11, 2023: Carus’ main plant explodes, spreading contamination across LaSalle and igniting public outrage.

• After the fire: Controversy grows around Apollo. Carus first denies, then admits, chemicals were still stored there.

• Months later: Apollo disappears from the Tier II database. The history is gone.

Why it’s not right

The law is clear. Tier II reports must be filed, retained, and made available. They cannot be quietly deleted because they are politically inconvenient or embarrassing to a company or regulator. The disappearance of Apollo’s filings is not normal procedure. It is a cover-up.

The question that remains

Who ordered Apollo’s history erased? Who approved it? And why is the state of Illinois choosing to protect Carus and itself instead of protecting the community it serves?

Until those answers come out, Hicks News will not let the Apollo story fade into the memory hole. Records may vanish from a database, but the truth remains: Apollo was real, it was hazardous, and it was hidden.