![]() ![]() Such a law would require a cumulative-impacts analysis when an industrial operation applies for a permit, but Lightfoot has yet to act on it. Day in the life of an #environmentaljustice ♬ original sound - Gina Ramirez7995Ī year prior, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised a city ordinance focused on environmental justice. ![]() In 2022, they formed the Coalition to End Sacrifice Zones to compel city and state officials to consider the cumulative effects of polluting industries on neighborhoods when evaluating new projects. The groups filed a complaint with federal housing officials saying that Chicago has pushed polluting industries into Black and Latino communities. Together, they sought to “change things at the root of the problem, which is systemic racism,” says Southeast Side resident Gina Ramirez, who serves as a Midwest outreach manager at NRDC and as board president of the SETF. In 2020, People for Community Recovery, a nonprofit working to improve the quality of life in a neighborhood known as the “ toxic doughnut,” linked up with other community-led advocacy groups. The advocacy groups are pushing the city to deny Ozinga its permits when the time comes, but that’s not all they want. Traffic becomes dense along Torrence Avenue as newly made Ford cars mix with traffic in southeast Chicago. Don’t skirt the issue by going underground, profiting, and leaving all the contamination as is.” “Well, if you really cared about the community, clean up the property and then build something. ![]() “They’re claiming they’re going underground because the land above is so contaminated,” she says. ![]() Though Ozinga Ventures has conducted its own environmental assessment on the site, it has not yet released its findings.Ĭalling the facility a warehouse is just a way to get around the mining ban and avoid footing the bill for remediation, says Peggy Salazar, a Southeast Side resident and former executive director of the nonprofit Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF). A 2021 ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council regulates the construction and expansion of facilities that contribute to air pollution, and it includes a ban on new mining operations.Ĭompany officials say that building the facility, dubbed “The Invert,” underground relinquishes them from any responsibility to clean up the land on the surface, an expensive endeavor. To many local residents, however, that sounds a whole lot like mining-an activity prohibited within city limits. The process-from the first blast to the last haul of limestone to the surface–would take roughly 13 years. To create the warehouse, Ozinga Ventures-whose primary investors are the Ozingas, the family who runs the Ozinga concrete company-plans to blast and excavate limestone, an essential ingredient in concrete. A mine by any other nameĪ view of Indiana industrial facilities from Wolf Lake in Chicago Ozinga promises a project that will revitalize the plot, supply jobs, and strengthen the community. The 6-million-square-foot underground facility, the company says, could house a range of businesses: a vertical farm, cloud computing operations, and light manufacturing, among others.īefore Ozinga Ventures seeks the necessary permits from the city, it has been trying hard to win over the community-putting its name on the baseball field next to the lot, holding public meetings about the proposal, and setting up a permanent office in the area (an unusual step for a company that has yet to start construction). For instance, a company called Ozinga Ventures wants to build a huge warehouse of sorts on the property-or peculiarly, 350 feet beneath it. And now, like so many times over the years, local residents are on the watch for new polluters trying to come in. Like so many sites along this stretch of the river, this brownfield has a toxic history, contaminated decades ago by the steel companies that once operated in the area, then abandoned. To the west, the East Side neighborhood nearly reaches the Calumet River. A residential neighborhood next to the property extends east to the Indiana state border just a few blocks away. Trees stretch skyward in another section of the lot, an area just beyond a Little League diamond’s left field. On a 140-acre property on Chicago’s Southeast Side, spindly plants sprout from a hard-packed surface. Peggy Salazar, former executive director of the nonprofit Southeast Environmental Task Force and a longtime resident of Southeast Side, poses for a portrait near the 106th Street bridge in southeast Chicago. ![]()
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