Policy Director Testifies After City Fails to Protect Neighborhoods from Industrial Pollution
On February 23, 2023, Wesley Epplin, Health & Medicine’s Policy Director, testified at the Chicago Environmental Justice Network press conference.
Environmental Justice advocates joined Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward) to call for changes, reform, and oversight in the wake of two reports charging that the City of Chicago fails to protect residents from industrial pollution.
The demands for action follow the recent release of a report by the McKinley Park-based organization Neighbors for Environmental Justice, which reveals a significant reduction in enforcement by the city, loopholes used by toxic industrial facilities to avoid the law, and written evidence that the Dept of Public Health intentionally limits accountability for repeated violations. These findings are underlined by the newly published investigation of the Hilco implosion at the former Crawford coal plant, in which the Office of the Inspector General found the city acted with “willful bureaucratic negligence.” No companies involved were cited for air pollution or required to admit liability for their actions. Little Village activists claim that the toxic cloud that enveloped the neighborhood following the implosion resulted in the deaths of two residents.
