February 11, 2021 Update
General Iron, a notoriously polluting metal shredding facility, forced out of Lincoln Park after years of community concerns regarding air quality and safety, continues in its push to set up shop in the Far Southeast side of Chicago. The proposed location is close to several schools, parks, housing, as well as Big Marsh Park, Eggers Grove, and Wolf Lake.
The stakes are high: activists from the Southeast side are on a hunger strike in opposition to the City’s quick procession of RMG’s permit and continued exclusion of the community from that process.
The residents of this neighborhood and the surrounding wildlife deserve better. Join with the Illinois Environmental Council and tell Mayor LIghtfoot and Governor Pritzker to deny the final permit needed for General Iron to begin operating.
On January 11, 2021, Chicago Audubon submitted comment to the Chicago Department of Public Health on the proposed expansion of the RMG plant on the Southeast side of Chicago.
Download PDF or see below, and sign the Sierra club petition to add your voice.
Comment period extended to January 29, 2021 - Sign petition now!
Tell The City: The Southeast Side Isn’t A Dumping Ground!
Chicago Dept. Of Public Health
333 S State St #200, Chicago, IL 60604
January 11, 2021
RE: Public Comment on RMG Expansion on Southeast Side
To Whom It May Concern,
In solidarity with Southeast Side residents, the board of Chicago Audubon Society vehemently opposes the relocation of Reserve Management Group’s large metal recycling facility to the Southeast Side. In 50 years of conservation work across the Chicago Region, Chicago Audubon Society has come to recognize the importance of a healthy, clean environment for both people and nature. This proposed recycling operation jeopardizes the health of residents, wildlife, and ecosystems that call the Southeast Side home.
Industrial operations should not be put before the health of people and the environment. Due to a long history of environmental racism and irresponsible industry, the Southeast Side already bears disproportionate public and environmental health burdens. The negative impacts of air pollution on human health are well-documented, but research indicates airborne contaminants like those released from this type of operation can negatively impact entire ecosystems. The United States EPA documents the type of cumulative impacts that can build up in an ecosystem in both plants and animals, increasing in toxicity and concentration as they move up the food chain. The Southeast Side is still recovering from a long history of abuse and dumping by industry, and City administrations that failed to protect communities and the environment. Millions of dollars and countless staff and volunteer hours from landowning agencies to nonprofits have gone into restoring Southeast Side wetlands, prairies and woodlands to health. A large portion of that time and funding goes toward remediation to address decades of soil and water contamination in the region’s only remaining marsh habitat.
The proposed location of the RMG facility is downriver, upriver, and next door to schools and homes, but also to places like Indian Ridge Marsh, where immense effort and funding (both private and public) has gone toward creating a safe, welcoming outdoor experience. As rare birds, residents and travelers alike flock to newly restored parks and natural areas, it is paramount that the City do everything in its power to keep these areas safe and welcoming. Harmful and noxious emissions from a notorious polluter with a foul track record for violations jeopardize this vision. The City has a chance to change the course of history on the Southeast side by protecting Black and brown Southeast Side residents as it protects North side residents, and to protect our communities, environment, and our investments in green space and recreation.
RMG’s track record at their Lincoln Park General Iron location does not inspire confidence that a safe, environmentally responsible company is moving to the Southeast Side. We are asking the City to take the right and responsible course of action and deny the permits that would allow RMG to operate on the Southeast Side.
Respectfully,
Judy Pollock
President
Chicago Audubon Society