09/21/2023
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15082023/chicago-environmental-justice-zoning-policies-pollution-cumulative-impact/?utm_medium=email
Exciting progress after decades of activism! If you don't have time to read the article here is a quick summary.
After decades of work by environmental justice activists, the city of Chicago consulted communities plagued by industrial pollution to make a new plan addressing the disproportionate burdens on Black and Hispanic residents.
This investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development came after owners of a massive metal recycling facility in Lincoln Park, an affluent and predominantly white neighborhood on the North Side, tried to relocate the facility to the Southeast Side in 2018. Residents near the General Iron facility at Lincoln Park complained of toxic emissions, bad odors and water pollution, and the facility caught fire twice in 2015, causing a smoke plume in the area, according to findings from the investigation.
After the investigation the three main goals of the recommended policies are:
*Creating governance systems and structures to ensure that city policies and processes promote environmental justice
*Requiring the city to consider environmental, health and social stressors in decision-making
*Ensuring people who live in environmental justice neighborhoods directly benefit from local development
After decades of work by environmental justice activists, the city consulted communities plagued by industrial pollution to make a new plan addressing the disproportionate burdens on Black and Hispanic residents.
