Nearly four years after Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration gave the OK for the General Iron scrap-metal operation to move to the Southeast Side, he’s agreed that the state of Illinois will take a tougher look at the likely environmental impact in the future before allowing such pollution-producing businesses to move into low-income areas.
The deal made public Friday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency commits Illinois to consider the impact of allowing more polluting industry in low-income neighborhoods already burdened with environmental and social stresses.
Under the agreement, sparked by a complaint from Southeast Side Chicago groups, Illinois environmental officials will beef up their oversight of polluters who are setting up operations or expanding. New measures include more notifications to residents and possible public meetings. Prior violations of environmental laws may trigger additional air pollution controls or monitoring. Site locations of polluters near schools, day cares and health centers will get more scrutiny.
Community organizations, health and environmental advocates and other politicians made the case to Pritzker in 2020 that he should deny a state permit to allow construction and an air pollution-control plan for the General Iron car-shredding operation that was being moved from Lincoln Park. Pritzker’s environmental officials said they had no choice but to approve the project at East 116th Street along the Calumet River.
The state will continue to be restricted by its own laws on environmental permitting, and it’s not clear that the additional new steps will result in outright denials that stop polluters from setting up shop. Advocates hope for meaningful steps to protect health in so-called environmental justice communities.
“The settlement is a breath of fresh air for environmental justice communities in Illinois,” said Olga Bautista, co-executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force. “Now we need to see how [the state] will implement this historic agreement and center public health and safety in future permits.”
That said, “location of sensitive populations and various socioeconomic indicators” will be among the factors considered in air permit applications, state environmental officials said in a statement. Air permits allow companies to emit pollution as long as it doesn’t exceed a certain threshold.
The state entered into the deal “voluntarily,” the statement added.
The Pritzker administration’s state approval for General Iron punted the contentious decision to then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot on whether to sign off on a final permit that would allow the operation to open. In early 2022, Lightfoot denied the permit, a decision still being fought in court.
As a result, the fully built metal-shredding operation, rebranded Southside Recycling, sits idle.
The city’s initial role in helping the business move from its longtime North Side home, though, continues to shape Chicago’s treatment of polluting businesses.
Under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Chicago City Council is expected to consider a proposed ordinance this year that reforms zoning and land-use practices and attempts to limit polluting industry in environmental justice communities. That agreement followed a HUD investigation sparked by the General Iron controversy.
People for Community Recovery, Bautista’s organization and one other Southeast Side community group filed the HUD complaint in August 2020. Just months later, the same groups asked the EPA to investigate the state’s approval of General Iron, raising similar civil rights concerns.
Those concerns sparked an investigation by EPA under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that resulted in the just-announced agreement.
“Today’s agreement reflects EPA’s commitment to having constructive dialogues with states,” said agency spokesman Nick Conger, “to pursue resolutions that result in lasting and meaningful protections for communities most vulnerable to pollution.”
EPA Administrator Michael Regan has taken an interest in the General Iron issue. Prior to denying the permit, Lightfoot paused the application process at the urging of Regan, who suggested that a community health impact assessment be performed.
