Chicago Southeast Side Residents to Mayor: Deny General Iron’s Move if You are Serious about Equity

CHICAGO – Chicago officials released a report over the weekend that highlights the disproportionate air pollution burden faced by the city’s communities of color in the South and West Sides and promised a new “reform agenda” in response. As the city considers permits for a proposed move of the notorious Lincoln Park polluter, General Iron, to an environmental justice community in the Southeast Side, advocates are pointing to the disproportionate burdens mentioned in the new report and are calling for a moratorium on new industrial permits during the pandemic as well as a denial for General Iron’s permits. 

The following statement is from the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, Southeast Environmental Task Force, Southeast Youth Alliance, United Neighbors for the 10th Ward, and NRDC: 

“Southeast Siders have been calling for reform for a long time. An openness to action is great, but Mayor Lightfoot can signal her seriousness about environmental justice and equity right now by denying General Iron’s move to one of the areas her report makes clear is already suffering from an inordinate air pollution burden. Rubber stamping the move of a controversial serial polluter from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side would undercut everything in the City’s report.”

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Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.​