EPA Chief’s Pledge Gets Tested by Chicago Metal-Plant Fight (1)

Southeast Chicago residents living with lead in their Little League fields and neurotoxins in their air have fought city and state officials for years to prevent a massive metal shredding plant from moving into their neighborhood along the Calumet River.

And now that new EPA Administrator Michael Regan is insisting that community-focused environmental equity will be part of the “DNA” of his agency, their fight over the General Iron plant may be an ideal early test of whether his promises will be kept.

The EPA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development both launched investigations into the plant’s permits ...