City’s actions don’t square with its commitment to environmental justice

Despite repeated declarations of a commitment to environmental justice, recent actions by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other Chicago officials cast doubt on the strength of that pledge.

Just over two months ago, the city released its Healthy Chicago 2025 public health agenda. It explicitly prioritizes communities disproportionately affected by air pollution, and it aims to increase the buffers between where people live and where manufacturing and industry are located.

Weeks earlier, the Chicago Department of Public Health issued an air quality report that found communities on the south and west sides are the most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution. The report reiterated the city’s commitment to advancing environmental justice and addressing the city’s most pressing environmental challenges.

With these two reports and public commitments in mind, consider these recent actions.

◆ City officials are pushing forward with plans to allow the General Iron metal shredding facility to move from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side. The Lincoln Park site had two explosions in May and was cited 11 times in the past year for pollution and nuisance law violations.

◆ Officials have allowed the operation of a McKinley Park asphalt plant with no community input. The facility has been inspected more than 50 times due to odorous emissions and received three violation notices. The pollution has been cited by city officials as justification for denying an affordable housing development in this lowincome neighborhood.

◆ After failing to prevent a disastrous implosion of a power plant smokestack that covered Little Village in dust, the city not only approved but subsidized the building of a 1 million- square- foot retail logistics center that will bring with it traffic and more air pollution from hundreds of diesel trucks on a daily basis. Community objections were roundly dismissed.

◆ Even though the mayor publicly committed during her campaign to get a clean, all- electric Chicago Transit Authority

( CTA) bus fleet by 2030, CTA was allowed to issue an RFP to purchase up to 600 additional diesel buses over the next several years. It is well- established that electric buses will dramatically reduce pollution and save lives. The first 100 diesel buses are expected to be purchased in the next few months, delaying investment in clean buses.

While the city’s stated commitment to health equity and environmental justice are admirable, actions speak louder than words.

The city’s most recent actions tell a tale of maintaining the status quo and are cause for great concern. Send letters to letters@ suntimes. com. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be 350 words or less.