A senior city health official testified Wednesday that the decision to deny a permit for a metal shredder in the Southeast was based on a combination of factors, including residents’ concerns about cumulative air pollution and high rates of chronic disease in the surrounding community.
A combined analysis of health and environmental factors in the East Side, Hegewisch and South Deering neighborhoods convinced Chicago officials to reject the opening of the cars and scrap metal, said Megan Cunningham, the city’s deputy commissioner of public health. application for the crushing facility at East 116th Street along the Calumet River.
“Our goal is to protect and advance public health,” Cunningham said during a city administrative hearing on the denied permit. “The state of the community itself is the result of policy.”
Cunningham added that city officials are concerned about the “inherent risks” posed by large scrap metal operations, including potential explosions.
“The effectiveness of a license depends on a company’s willingness to comply with it,” Cunningham said last February, defending the denial of the license.
Reserve Management Group, which owns the shredding business, wants an administrative law judge to determine whether the city overstepped its authority by refusing to issue a permit for the relocated and renamed General Iron business, which was rebuilt on the southeast side after moving from its longtime location in Lincoln. garden.
General Iron was acquired by an affiliate of Reserve Management in 2019 after signing an agreement with the city that set a timeline for closing the Lincoln Park facility and moving it to the Southeast. While community members protested the move, staged demonstrations and even went on a hunger strike, the reserve administration built a new shredding facility — estimated to cost $80 million — confident it would win city approval.
During cross-examination, reserve management attorney Jeffrey Rothman posed a series of questions to Cunningham about the EPA’s involvement in shredder permits, related civil rights investigations by federal housing officials, and Lori Lightfoot’s The mayor’s possible influence in the matter.
The denial was made by Dr. Allison Arwady, who was appointed by Lightfoot to head the Chicago Department of Public Health.
But in May 2021, EPA Administrator Michael Reagan, appointed by President Joe Biden, recommended conducting a health impact analysis to determine whether communities already overwhelmed by the environment would be affected by increased pollution, Lightfoot said in 2021. The process was suspended in May 2009.
Lawyers for Reserve Management argued that health impact assessments should not have been part of the process.
Cunningham said such health assessments are being conducted on a regular basis across the country, and they allow her department to take a more holistic approach to licensing decisions.
Some of the factors influencing the city’s decision include high levels of particle pollution common in the Southeast, lack of health care and high rates of chronic heart disease and other diseases, she said.
Rothman compared the zoning board’s 2019 approval of the crush site to the health department’s assessment.
He noted the advanced pollution controls implemented for the rebuilt General Iron.
Rossman also questioned why rival Sims Metal Management was able to continue operating in Pilsen without adequately controlling the contamination.
Sims who violate federal environmental laws are establishing new pollution controls and must obtain city operating permits.
It’s unclear whether the judges deciding the licensing issue will be persuaded.
Administrative law judge Mitchell Ex has repeatedly asked Reserve Management’s lawyers not to stray too far from defining the question: Did Arwady properly follow the rules when he refused a license to operate last February?
Lawyers for Reserve Management have requested a subpoena for Arwady to testify at an upcoming hearing, a request the Ex said he would consider. Last year, Ex denied the same attorney’s request for the public health commissioner to testify.
Brett Chase’s environment and public health report was supported by a grant from the Community Trust of Chicago.
