‘ Dumping ground’ on S. E. Side gets manganese relief, but is it enough?
A Southeast Side neighborhood that’s been a dumping ground for decades finally got some relief Tuesday from the release of potentially harmful manganese dust, but not enough to satisfy area residents.
The City Council’s Zoning Committee approved an ordinance championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel thatwould effectively prohibit new facilities from storing or handling materials containing more than trace amounts of manganese, a heavy metal used in steel making known to cause brain damage.
The mayor’s ordinance would not apply to facilities where manganese has been stored for at least a year. But it would prohibit those companies from expanding operations that involve the heavy metal. Violators would be punished by fines of $ 1,000 a day.
Prior to the final vote, Southeast Side residents, including a local elementary school student who lives near S. H. Bell Co., talked about the “game of wack- a- mole” that requires them to organize anew “every time there’s a new pollutant” dumped on their neighborhood.
They warned that, in Emanuel’s haste to appease Southeast Side residents and their local Ald. Susan Sadlowski- Garza ( 10th), the ordinance does not go nearly far enough.
“My children have sleep apnea, asthma and allergies. You need to wake up. We are damaging our DNA structure,” said Sara Hernandez.
Gina Ramirez, a third- generation resident of the Southeast Side with a 3- year- old child, said she’s grateful the city is “taking action to halt the expansion of facilities handling manganese.” But she’s concerned about “the exemption from the prohibition on new and expanded manganese operations for manufacturing establishments.”
Sadlowski- Garza described the ordinance as a “living breathing document” that can be amended if it doesn’t go far enough. She argued that this is “only the beginning.”
“You’re right. It’s wack- a- mole. We’re constantly fighting polluters . . . We’re tired,” Sadlowski- Garza said.