EPA Concerns Spur Suspension of Chicago Recycling Plant Permit

May 10, 2021, 5:40 PM UTC

A contested metal shredding plant slated for Chicago’s Southeast Side is now on hold after EPA Administrator Michael Regan cited “significant civil rights concerns” in a letter to the mayor.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that permits for the General Iron recycling facility would be paused after Regan urged the city to further analyze “aggregate potential health effects” before relocating the plant to a predominately Black and Latino community in South Chicago.

“Substantial data indicate the current conditions facing Chicago’s southeast side epitomize the problem of environmental injustice, resulting from more than a half century of prior actions,” Regan wrote Friday. ...

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