{"id":1519470,"date":"2024-02-26T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=631011"},"modified":"2024-02-26T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T09:30:00","slug":"illinois-epa-must-revamp-its-permitting-process-after-chicago-activists-file-civil-rights-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/26\/illinois-epa-must-revamp-its-permitting-process-after-chicago-activists-file-civil-rights-complaint\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois EPA must revamp its permitting process after Chicago activists file civil rights complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This coverage is made possible through a partnership<\/em> between WBEZ<\/em><\/a> and<\/em> Grist<\/em><\/a>, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. <\/em>Sign up<\/em><\/a> for WBEZ newsletters to get local news you can trust.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Environmental justice activists in Chicago claimed a major victory last week when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency needs to revamp its process for permitting polluting industries in residential neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The announcement comes four years after the Illinois EPA approved the move of General Iron, a scrap metal operation, to the city\u2019s Southeast Side, a neighborhood already heavily polluted. The approval set off months of protests, a hunger strike, and the civil rights complaint filed with the federal EPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the resolution does not say that the agency violated any anti-discrimination laws, the agreement does compel the Illinois EPA to make sweeping changes to its air permitting process. It\u2019s a rare victory for community groups that cite race-based discrimination when it comes to pollution, especially when working through the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it is very significant,\u201d said Catherine Coleman Flowers, a member of the Biden Administration\u2019s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt also proves, you know, that the process does work and it puts something in the toolbox for [environmental justice] communities to seek some type of justice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00d3scar Sanchez is co-executive director of Southeast Environmental Task Force, a grassroots organization fighting polluting industries in the area. His organization is one of two community groups that originally filed the civil rights complaint. He called the agreement monumental <\/p>\n\n\n\n