Environmental Justice for Illinois
The recently introduced Illinois Environmental Justice Act marks an important step towards ensuring a more fair and equitable process for industrial permitting in the state. I live in a neighborhood that is inundated with toxic industry and recognize the importance of fixing the broken permitting process in Illinois.
The Southeast Side of Chicago has hundreds of dangerous industries that fill our air, soil and water with chemicals and heavy metals. Some are located right next to schools, parks and our homes.
According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, some communities experience rates of poverty, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that are several times greater than others. This disparity is in part due to environmental pollution and exposure to harmful pollutants like ozone and PM2.5. Such exposure is associated with a range of health issues, including respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer, and early death.
To address this issue, the Illinois Environmental Justice Act will require the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to designate burdened communities like mine as environmental justice communities and establish a process by which communities can self-identify as environmental justice communities. The Act then would require new community engagement processes and heightened, more protective standards for proposed new and expanded sources in such EJ communities. These measures will give communities like mine a greater say in the permitting process and better ensure that their concerns are taken into account before any permits are issued.
The Act aims to address the disproportionate impact of pollution on communities of color and low-income areas by increasing community participation and transparency in the permitting process, and adding more protective review standards that assess whether the proposed project would increase environmental justice disparities.
The Illinois Environmental Justice Act:
Creates the first definition of environmental justice in the Illinois Environmental Protection Act.
Requires translation services automatically be provided at public hearings in areas of linguistic isolation.
Requires that large air pollution facilities go through a local siting process that is similar to the process used for landfills and other large polluting waste facilities, increasing the ability for communities to weigh in on large air permits.
Requires applicants for large air pollution facilities to hold public hearings in environmental justice communities and conduct a cumulative impact review of air pollution.
Gives community members standing to challenge more permitting decisions by the IEPA.
Creates a project bank in environmental justice communities for those that have violated pollution laws to ensure that projects are guided by the community.
Codifies a process for protected classes to file a grievance for civil rights violations regarding environmental pollution.
The Act also would require applicants for major sources of air pollution to conduct a public meeting prior to submitting their permit application and to submit an environmental justice assessment that identifies potential environmental and health impacts associated with their proposed project. It also imposes a supplemental fee of $200,000 for each construction permit application that is subject to the requirements for new sources located in environmental justice communities.
The Illinois Environmental Justice Act gives community members standing to challenge more permitting decisions by the IEPA and creates a project bank in environmental justice communities for those that have violated pollution laws. This ensures that projects in these communities are guided by the community itself.
The Illinois Environmental Justice Act is a step in breaking down racist practices that have put communities of color at a disadvantage for decades. By increasing community participation and transparency in the industrial permitting process, the act ensures that government agencies take an honest look at the existing pollution in a community before allowing any more industry to pile on. This will bring much-needed equity to a process that has too long put vulnerable communities at risk.
