CHICAGO – The City of Chicago and environmental justice advocates today announced and rallied support for the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance (O2025-0016697), which was then introduced in Chicago City Council. The ordinance ensures zoning requirements consider cumulative health impacts so that new pollution sources don’t further exacerbate toxic industrial pollution.
“The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance is an opportunity for the City to be a leader in environmental policy as federal regulations collapse. For the first time in Chicago’s history, grassroots organizations, industry, and government are all sitting at the table to evaluate the quality of life and the quality of air for the whole city, including the Black and Brown communities that have been most overburdened by polluters,” said Cheryl Johnson, Executive Director of People for Community Recovery and Hazel Johnson’s daughter. “This is a framework for future generations to ensure Chicago can leave its history as one of the most polluted cities in the country behind and become a city that improves and protects quality of life for everyone.”
Local action on environmental justice is more critical than ever, particularly in light of President Trump’s decision to revoke Executive Order 12898 on his first full day in office, which previously directed federal agencies to address environmental justice issues in minority and low-income communities. Chicago is no stranger to the fight for environmental justice, and in fact the ordinance is named for Hazel M. Johnson–the mother of the environmental justice movement who dedicated years to making connections between environmental injustice and public health in Altgeld Gardens. Frontline activists, community groups, and advocacy organizations have continued Hazel’s legacy by advocating for the Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, which was developed following a Cumulative Impacts Assessment completed in 2023 that outlined the disproportionate health and environmental burdens faced by frontline communities.
“The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance is the result of a years-long effort to ensure that all residents, particularly those in the most overburdened areas of the city, are protected from new pollution sources that threaten to wreak further havoc on community health and the environment,” said Angela Tovar, Chief Sustainability Officer and Department of Environment Commissioner for the City of Chicago. “The ordinance was crafted in large part thanks to the work of frontline community members and City leaders, and we look forward to continued collaboration to pass this ordinance and create healthier outdoor environments for all Chicagoans.”
“The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance presents City Hall with the opportunity to prioritize the people’s needs and enhance its decision making processes. For decades, the pursuit of development and economic growth has disregarded the detrimental effects on people’s health,” said Alfredo Romo, Executive Director of Neighbors for Environmental Justice. “Passing this ordinance will be a crucial step in rectifying this oversight. We are here today to change the pattern.”
The ordinance will codify the definitions of environmental justice and climate justice, create an advisory board to guide future policies, and address zoning requirements to consider cumulative health impacts before new developments impact vulnerable communities that have been continuously harmed by polluting industry.
“Health inequities like the approximately 11-year life expectancy difference between Black Chicagoans and other Chicagoans are unfair, unjust, and remediable,” said Wesley Epplin of the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group of University Illinois at Chicago. “The Cumulative Impacts Ordinance will help remedy years of environmental racism by identifying neighborhoods that experience the greatest cumulative health burdens and informing decision-making regarding industrial facilities and policy.”
“We can have good jobs and economic growth, and we can have healthy communities. Empty commercial spaces can be redeveloped to house thriving small businesses that employ the people who live here, not new polluters,” said Alderwoman Hadden, Chairwoman of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy. “That can’t happen if we continue to roll out the red carpet for dirty industry and allow them to continue poisoning half our city. The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance ensures a healthy, thriving future for all Chicagoans.”
Nearly 150 Chicagoans are lobbying their alders in support of the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance during the first-ever Chicago Environmental Lobby Week hosted by the Illinois Environmental Council. In addition to supporting the Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, Lobby Week participants also advocated for policies to reduce single-use plastics, improve access to water for all, and increased funding for the Department of Environment and Bureau of Forestry.
“Chicagoans are fired up to take action on environmental justice and protection locally because they know that this is where change is possible, regardless of the chaos at the federal level. It’s clear that Trump is hell bent on upending decades of progress on environmental justice, but here in Chicago, we’re not going back,” said Iyana Simba, City Government Affairs Director with the Illinois Environmental Council. “Together, we can honor Hazel Johnson’s legacy and ensure Chicago continues to lead the way on environmental justice and protection by passing the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance and other pro-environment policies.”
###
Since 1975, the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) has worked to safeguard Illinois—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends by building power for people and the environment. www.ilenviro.org