MEDIA ADVISORY AND DAYBOOK ITEM FOR WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16, 2022
Contact:
Olga Bautista, SETF, olga@setaskforce.org, 773-712-4956
Chris White, ASE, chris@ase.org, 815- 274-9635
Southeast Side Environmental Activists Speak Out Against Proposed Mining Operation
WEDNESDAY, Community members and Environmental Justice advocates based in Chicago’s Southeast Side will be putting together a press conference outside of a town hall organized by the Ozinga owned project known as the Invert.
The Invert is a proposed new industrial operation consisting of an underground mine that would be 250-350 feet below the surface with operations for processing and handling extracted material, along with numerous diesel trucks serving the site. The facility is projected to take 13 years to complete excavation.
Environmental justice organizations have long been sounding the alarm about Ozinga’s excavation plan, which they worry will in fact involve mining, despite the mining ban in the city of Chicago. The proposed location for the underground project would be in the Calumet River Industrial Corridor, just north of a residential area and adjacent to the site where Reserve Management Group had proposed to relocate metal shredding operations previously owned by General Iron.
Coming off the heels of the campaign that successfully shut down the proposed relocation of the General Iron metal shredding operations, Southeast Side residents are pointing to further proof of their community being treated as a sacrifice zone due to the sheer amount of polluting industry in the region, which they believe the Invert would negatively contribute to.
Rather than respond to concerns brought forward by community members about the negative environmental impact the facility would contribute to an area already overburdened by pollution, as well as the concerns regarding mining, the company has stressed their commitment to sustainability by proposing to build solar panels above the facility—raising further concerns about greenwashing.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, at 5:30pm Central Time
Where: 10200 S Ewing Ave. Chicago, Illinois
Who:
Moderator: Olga Bautista, Executive Director Southeast Environmental Task Force
Amalia NietoGomez, Executive Director Alliance of the Southeast
Marie Collins-Wright, Vice President Jeffrey Manor Community Revitalization Council
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