Chicago’s south and west sides continue to shoulder the burden of cumulative pollution
CHICAGO — On Wednesday, President Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it is dropping two cases in Chicago that spurred a civil rights agreement with the city to monitor and reform discriminatory zoning and land-use practices on the south and west sides. Iyana Simba, City Government Affairs Director with the Illinois Environmental Council, released the following statement:
“In 2023, the federal government confirmed what Chicago’s south and west side communities have long known: the City has a legacy of concentrating toxic industrial pollution in low-income communities of color. Now, the Trump administration is backtracking on these two civil rights cases and is once again rolling out the red carpet for big industrial polluters.
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cases promised to disrupt the pattern of environmental racism in Chicago’s polluting zoning practices. While the City has indicated it intends to fully comply with the binding agreement, the Trump administration’s total disregard for clean air and water makes it all the more pressing that the Chicago City Council pass the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impact Ordinance under consideration now, which would minimize the cumulative health impact of new pollution sources across the city.
“State-level action is also needed to more adequately protect communities from pollution. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency must rework its definition of “environmental justice” to include accurate predictors of a community’s likely exposure to overburdensome pollution, such as average household income, health disparities, and other factors. In addition, the Illinois General Assembly has had multiple opportunities to pass legislation that would require analysis of the cumulative impact of industrial polluters on environmental justice communities across the state, but has repeatedly failed to act. Since we cannot count on the federal government to uphold civil rights and protect already overburdened neighborhoods, it’s critical that lawmakers take action on the local and state levels and pass the Cumulative Impacts Ordinance and Environmental Justice Air Permitting Act.”