Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Brett Chase

MAT Asphalt to pay $1.2 million over neighbor’s lawsuit over odor

2023-12-14T17:24:32.899-06:00

MAT Asphalt’s owner agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a neighbor’s 2020 lawsuit over odor issues.

Sun-Times file

People who live around a controversial asphalt plant in McKinley Park could be eligible for payouts from a proposed $1.2 million court settlement after a neighbor filed a lawsuit over smells three years ago.

Any claims seeking money have to be done so in writing, mailed and postmarked by Jan. 22.

Tanisha Rodriguez filed suit in Cook County circuit court in December 2020, saying she and potentially thousands of others living near the plant at 2055 W. Pershing Rd. “suffered from the invasion of noxious odors onto their property,” according to the class-action complaint.

In August, a settlement was reached between Rodriguez and other residents and MAT. Lawyers for Rodriguez did not respond to requests for comment.

Anyone who lived within a half mile of the 8-acre asphalt site at any time since its first month of operation in July 2018 could be eligible, according to a letter from the law firm representing Rodriguez.

City explores moving controversial McKinley Park asphalt plant

Residents who would like to opt out of the agreement must send a communication to the Detroit law firm Liddle Sheets Coulson by January 8. For more information, go to www.lsccounsel.com/matasphaltsettlement.

MAT Asphalt, a city contractor, has been a lightning rod of controversy since neighbors learned that it was opening across from McKinley Park.

Hundreds of complaints over odor and nuisance have been made to the city. At one point, the city even discussed coercing the owner, Michael Tadin Jr., to move the plant.

Asphalt plants ordered to cut pollution for Chicago city contracts

The settlement also directs MAT to control odors, something that the business was already agreeing to do as part of a city contractor program.

Those improvements to pollution control total around $900,000, according to the settlement. Most of the plans for controls were largely underway as MAT was awarded as much as $141 million in city contracts earlier this year.

The company also settled city citations for air pollution and dust control in April. The city said all asphalt suppliers have to follow new environmental rules but MAT is required to put controls in place on a quicker timeline.

MAT Asphalt wins up to $141M in city contracts after settling pollution complaints

The court settlement allows MAT to refute the allegations in the lawsuit.

“MAT Asphalt vigorously denies all allegations of wrongdoing or liability,” Tadin, the co-owner, said in a statement. “Rather than engage in unproductive litigation, we will continue to focus on delivering more of the cost-effective, industry-leading service that we have provided to the city.”

On its website, Liddle Sheets Coulson describes itself as “a class action and complex litigation law firm.”

Polluters like Southeast Side plant often get a pass on air-quality violations in Chicago, Sun-Times finds

Pritzker stops Chicago migrant tent development over soil contamination

2023-12-05T19:07:20.296-06:00

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday said the state is ending development of a proposed migrant camp at 38th and California in Brighton Park.

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

Citing “serious environmental concerns,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that the state is ending development of a proposed migrant camp in Brighton Park.

The decision follows the city of Chicago’s release of an environmental report Friday night that showed the location at 38th Street and California Avenue required cleanup of heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

The state halted construction Sunday.

“My administration is committed to keeping asylum seekers safe as we work to help them achieve independence,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We will not proceed with housing families on a site where serious environmental concerns are still present.”

Brighton Park migrant tent site is polluted with toxic heavy metals; city plans cleanup

The decision came after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration on Monday publicly said the site could be made safe for temporary residential use by removing the harmful metals and other substances.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency disagreed, saying under its guidelines, “insufficient sampling and remediation at the Brighton Park site does not meet state cleanup standards for residential use.”

The agency began reviewing the almost 800-page report prepared by a consultant to the city over the weekend. That report listed mercury, arsenic, lead and other contaminants on site.

“Given the significant time required to conduct additional sampling, to process and analyze results, and to implement corresponding further remediation, the state will work with the city to identify alternate shelter options,” the governor’s office said.

What defines Pritzker-Johnson relationship so far? Tension

The halt once again highlights some of the behind-the-scenes divisions between the mayor and governor’s offices as they deal with the migrant crisis.

Speaking to reporters after an event Tuesday, Johnson repeatedly said the state was aware an environmental impact study would be conducted and would likely reveal problems on the land.

“There was no indication throughout the entire process that a standard or a different methodology was preferable by the state of Illinois,” Johnson said of the state review.

As for a plan B, or an alternative site, Johnson criticized the state for not having opened a shelter on the former site of a CVS pharmacy in Little Village.

Timeline of Chicago’s migrant response

Timeline of Chicago’s response to incoming migrants

August 2022: Chicago begins to receive buses of migrants sent from Texas

Jan 12: Temporary shelter for asylum-seekers receives neighborhood backlash

Apr 3: FOP boss files complaint about the city housing migrants in police stations

May 9: Mayor Lori Lightfoot declares a state of emergency amid a new surge of arrivals

Sept 1: Hundreds of migrants stuck at overcrowded O’Hare Airport shelter

Sept 7: Winterized base camps suggested under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new plan

Sept 20: Federal government announces it will expedite work visa process for Venezuelans seeking asylum

Nov 16: Chicago receives $160 million boost from the state to house and manage influx of migrants

Nov 17: Mayor Brandon Johnson limits shelter stays for migrants under new 60-day shelter rule

Nov 29: ‘Winterized tent’ construction begins in Brighton Park

Dec 1: Mercury, arsenic and other contaminants found at planned migrant tent location, according to environmental study

Dec 5: Gov. J.B. Pritzker stops construction of tents because of toxic chemicals found in soil

“We can’t wait six months before a decision is made in order for a site to be made available for a crisis,” Johnson said. “That’s happening today.”

The governor’s office said that site, which will provide 200 beds, would be open within the next two weeks.

The governor’s office has also requested alternate sites from the city, and the state is working with the Archdiocese of Chicago to explore other options.

Brighton Park migrant site construction halted pending environmental review

The decision to scrap the Brighton Park tent site comes as more than 600 migrants remain camped out at police stations and O’Hare airport.

And Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) has sent a letter to Johnson asking that the Gage Park shelter be wound down, meaning no new admittances and confirmation that the people there have gotten their 60-day notices according to city policy.

Johnson said he wanted “to make sure that we are removing people off of the floors of police stations,” adding, “the base camp was an option for us to be able to address this crisis.”

Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), chair of the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, welcomed the state’s decision.

“It makes sense to find the safest way possible because we don’t want situations where, years from now, we find out people are ill — especially when you’re talking about kids that are on that site,” Vasquez said. “It makes sense to do all our due diligence to treat people the way we would all want to be treated in that situation.”

Toxic past leads to concern about Brighton Park migrant tent site

Johnson pushed ahead with the plan for 38th and California despite weeks of protest from residents who objected to the site being used for a migrant camp.

Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th), who represents the area, ultimately opposed the project. Initially, she took the brunt of protesters’ anger.

Pritzker “made sure that we are stepping up to the responsibility of caring for the health of the immigrant families and residents by not continuing to use this lot as a shelter,” Ramirez said Tuesday. “We have to continue finding shelter that is safe for asylum seekers.”

The Brighton Park site wasn’t the city’s only potential tent location.

The other is the parking lot of a former Jewel-Osco in the Morgan Park neighborhood at 115th and Halsted.

Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st) said city crews had begun preparing the site by clearing it, repairing and providing water service lines and putting up fences.

Mosley said he had not heard back from the city about an environmental assessment of that site.

Pritzker has committed $65 million to build the tent camp. The governor’s office said it couldn’t provide an estimate for money that may be owed to construction contractor GardaWorld due to the site change.

Separately, the city has been leasing the Brighton Park land from a private owner since late October, agreeing to pay $91,400 a month.

Contributing: Michael Loria

Toxic chemicals found at Chicago site to house migrants in tents, construction halted for review

2023-12-04T17:12:23.36-06:00

A Brighton Park migrant housing tent on Monday shows a roof now covering the shelter. But construction was halted Sunday at the site with tents intended to house newly arrived migrants pending an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency review of a nearly 800-page city consultant’s study that was released Friday night.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

The state has paused construction at a Southwest Side site intended to house newly arrived migrants amid an environmental report that found toxic contaminants and heavy metals in its soil.

Construction was halted Sunday pending an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency review of a nearly 800-page city consultant’s study that was released Friday night. The review will determine whether the project goes forward.

“We are continuing the construction pause tomorrow as the IEPA continues their review,” Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “We are hopeful we will have more information to share tomorrow.”

Earlier Monday, the governor’s office said the agency still had unanswered questions regarding the study.

Pritzker is committing $65 million for the shelter and directing the contractor on the site.

The Brighton Park migrant housing tents on Monday show roofs now covering the shelters. But construction was halted Sunday at the site intended to house newly arrived migrants pending an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency review of a nearly 800-page city consultant’s study that was released Friday night.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Late Friday, City Hall released the report that found a number of heavy metals and toxic chemicals were present on the property.

Despite those findings, the city said the property will be “safe for temporary residential use” once the soil is cleaned up.

Jason Lee, a senior adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson, said Monday the city’s testing and cleanup of the site was done in a thorough manner “to make sure that all risk was eliminated.”

“Ultimately, the state will decide to move forward on this site,” Lee said. “They may have other options if they were to choose not to pursue this site.”

The privately owned industrial land at 38th Street and California Avenue is being leased by the city to shelter as many as 2,000 migrants.

Suit to stop Brighton Park migrant tent site dismissed, for now

Johnson has been promoting the site amid a firestorm of protests from residents who say they don’t want the shelter built.

The land is zoned for heavy manufacturing, has a long history of industrial use and has never been approved for residential purposes.

Brighton Park migrant tent site is polluted with toxic heavy metals; city plans cleanup

Despite City Hall’s stated confidence in the safety of the property, the city’s own consultant warned that activity should be halted if more toxic materials are discovered.

“We cannot represent that the site contains no hazardous substances, toxic material, petroleum products or other latent conditions beyond those identified during this evaluation,” city consultant Terracon said in its report.

Around 650 migrants remained camped out at O’Hare Airport and police stations Monday, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Contributing: Fran Spielman

Toxic past leads to concern about Brighton Park migrant tent site

Brighton Park migrant tent site had toxic contaminants, but city deems it ‘safe for temporary residential use’

2023-12-01T21:58:12.825-06:00

Protesters stand outside a site where the city plans to set up winterized base camps to house up to 2,000 migrants at 38th and California in Brighton Park.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Arsenic, mercury, lead, manganese and a chemical used in PVC were among the heavy metals and toxic contaminants discovered in the soil at a Southwest Side site that is being prepared to house newly arrived migrants.

In each case, these contaminants were detected at levels that require cleanup to protect human health, according to a nearly 800-page report City Hall released late Friday evening.

In addition, traces of other toxic chemicals, including cyanide, pesticides and the long-banned, cancer-causing compounds known as PCBs were also found by a city consultant.

Despite finding all the toxic matter, city officials said the most problematic levels of contamination were removed and declared the site “safe for temporary residential use.”

The privately owned industrial land at 38th and California is being leased by the city to shelter as many as 2,000 migrants.

The state, which is committing $65 million for the shelter and is directing the contractor building on the site, will have to sign off on the environmental report.

“The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will have to review it,” said Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker. “We will not utilize that site if IEPA does not sign off.”

She declined to comment further until state officials review the report.

Brighton Park migrant tent site is polluted with toxic heavy metals; city plans cleanup

The city’s consultant said it can’t guarantee there isn’t additional contamination, and if additional materials are discovered, “activities should be halted.”

The more than nine acres of land has a long history of industrial use, and yet the city previously said the site appears to be “viable” for a winterized tent camp.

Johnson has been pushing forward on the plan amid residents’ protests.

The land is zoned for heavy manufacturing use, and the environmental testing is necessary to determine if the area is safe for human health.

Tent construction underway in Brighton Park, Johnson’s solution to house migrants

The property is owned by Barnacres, a company affiliated with city contractor Sanchez Paving in Markham.

Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) said last month she was told heavy metal contamination had been found by the city, but full details had not been shared with her at the time.

Johnson promised the environmental report would be out this week. On Friday, journalists were told to file open records requests to access the document.

The report was released just after 8 p.m. Friday night.

Toxic past leads to concern about Brighton Park migrant tent site

Biden allows Chicago more time to replace dangerous lead water pipes than other cities

2023-11-30T17:04:20.461-06:00

A city crew repairs a water pipe and removes a lead service line in Calumet Heights this month.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

President Joe Biden is telling cities to replace their dangerous lead water pipes within a decade, though his plan does little to fix the public health threat in Chicago where it may take at least another 40 years to resolve.

Biden’s administration announced a plan Thursday that will require all but a handful of cities to completely remove water pipes with brain-damaging lead within 10 years.

Chicago, however, is getting a pass.

Despite the national mandate, the city will not have to follow the Biden plan because it has such an unusually high number of lead service lines – more than 400,000. That’s by far, the most lead service lines — pipes that connect homes to water mains — of any city in the country.

“We definitely want to move quicker than that,” said Brenda Santoyo, a senior policy analyst for Little Village Environmental Justice Organization who has advocated for pipe replacements.

Biden loans $336 million to Chicago to replace lead water pipes

The Biden plan, which is not final and will be subject to two months of public comment, is proposing Chicago replace no more than 10,000 lead service lines a year.

That’s a slight improvement from the planned 8,000 lead line replacements the city announced it hopes to do next year pending state funding.

Asked about the exception for Chicago, Environmental Protection Agency water official Radhika Fox said the plan requires “practical implementation.” She pointed to another part of the proposal requiring water departments to take actions when a new, lower measurement of lead is detected in homes’ drinking water.

“I would not say this is status quo,” Fox said.

Health experts say no level of lead is safe for children. Overall, the plan does address a national health threat.

“It’s good news for a lot of people but, obviously, in Chicago, the news isn’t as good,” said Erik Olson, a senior strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “You can’t have more generations of kids being exposed to lead.”

Lightfoot’s plan to replace Chicago’s lead water pipes has switched out 280 of an estimated 390,000 service lines

Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Biden’s overall plan is “a bold action.” Asked about Chicago, in particular, her spokesman said Duckworth “knows we need to do more.”

Chicago wrongly limited affordable housing with aldermanic prerogative, HUD says

2023-11-28T17:54:59.68-06:00

Chicago City Council members have been accused of “unfettered power over zoning, land use, city lots and public financing in order to decide where, if and how affordable housing is built in their wards.”

Sun-Times file

The city of Chicago wrongly limited affordable housing by allowing City Council members to reject developments in their wards through the use of their aldermanic prerogative, federal investigators say.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is being asked to enter talks for an “informal resolution” of an almost five-year civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a letter obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

“The department’s investigation indicates that the city affords each of its 50 wards a local veto over proposals to build affordable housing and that many majority-white wards use the local veto to block, deter or downsize such proposals,” wrote Lon Meltesen, regional director of HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “As a result, new affordable housing is rarely, if ever, constructed in the majority-white wards that have the least affordable housing.”

Meltesen called the Council members’ local veto “instrumental in creating Chicago’s patterns of segregation.” He said that veto “disproportionately harms Black and Hispanic households who are far more likely than white households to need and qualify for affordable housing.”

The investigation began after a complaint was filed to HUD by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance and nine other advocacy groups in November 2018 that said Chicago Council members have “unfettered power over zoning, land use, city lots and public financing in order to decide where, if and how affordable housing is built in their wards.”

That power, often referred to as aldermanic prerogative, is discriminatory and violates the civil rights of those seeking housing, the groups said.

Aldermanic privilege steeped in power, politics — and prejudice, critics contend

While HUD officials say the investigation has not been finalized, Meltesen said in his letter to Mary Richardson-Lowry, Johnson’s top City Hall lawyer, that “the city’s use of the local veto despite understanding its effects raises serious concerns about the city’s compliance” with federal civil rights law.

The complaint tracks the origins of the aldermanic veto to the 1930s and notes strong pushback back then from Council members who represented white neighborhoods. Their constituents saw racially integrated public housing as “the end of their neighborhoods,” the complaint said.

“The city acknowledges this effect of the practice, its historical use for the purpose of creating and maintaining patterns of racial segregation and its continued use as a tool that effectuates racially motivated opposition to affordable housing,” Meltesen said.

Chicago, HUD settle environmental racism case as Lori Lightfoot leaves office

In an interview, Patricia Fron, Chicago Fair Housing Alliance co-executive director, called aldermanic prerogative, a “tool to covertly reinforce segregation when legal forms were outlawed.”

The letter to the city, she said, “gives weight to the findings we laid out in the complaint.”

HUD previously has called out city practices as discriminatory. In May, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed a binding agreement with HUD over another housing discrimination case that was filed over the planned move of the General Iron scrap-metal operation to the Southeast Side.

In response to the recent concern from HUD, city lawyer John Hendricks said in a letter earlier this month that the complainants “fail to establish a violation of fair housing and civil rights laws” but that the city is “open to voluntary resolution.”

HUD officials declined to comment on the letter, saying that “the case is still open and HUD has not issued any final determinations at this time.”

A spokesman for Johnson didn’t respond to a request for comment.

City Council strikes a blow to aldermanic prerogative over zoning

In addition to the power of alderpersons, the 2018 complaint also calls out the use of local resident committees known as zoning advisory councils that can limit housing.

The complaint said these groups are “one of the most powerful tools used to influence affordable housing development,” especially in predominantly white wards. In other white areas, similar groups have been used to effectively keep out low-income housing, the complaint said.

Residents groups on the North Side and Northwest Side, in particular, have “tremendous power to influence aldermen and make final decisions over affordable housing, effectively shutting down proposals before the city’s Department of Planning and Development even considers a proposal,” the complaint said.

In Edison Park, a proposal in 2017 for rental property that included four units of affordable housing drew more than 500 people to oppose it, the complaint said. That proposal was defeated.

HEAR MORE

Click to hear Sun-Times reporter Brett Chase talk about the case that the city of Chicago wrongly limited affordable housing through the use of aldermanic prerogative.

READ HUD’S LETTER

Chicago migrant tent site polluted with toxic heavy metals, city plans cleanup

2023-11-22T15:07:41.145-06:00

Protesters march in Brighton Park to oppose the proposed winter camp for asylum-seekers earlier this month.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Heavy metal contamination has been found at the site of a proposed migrant tent camp in Brighton Park that’s drawn neighborhood protests, according to Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th).

Ramirez said Wednesday that City Hall plans to clean up the pollution.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is moving forward with a planned winterized shelter for as many as 2,000 asylum-seekers despite protests from nearby residents that they don’t want the camp.

The 11-acre site has a long history of industrial use, the Chicago Sun-Times has reported.

Toxic past leads to concern about Brighton Park migrant tent site

The property, previously owned by a railroad company, at one point included a zinc smelter, an operation that uses heat and chemicals to extract metals, historic records show.

City officials declined to comment, and the extent of the contamination was not disclosed.

City Hall is expected to release a report on the environmental status next week, Ramirez said.

She said she’s asking Johnson for an agreement that would benefit the community if the camp is built.

Soil testing has been underway at the privately owned industrial site as part of Johnson’s plan to shelter newly arrived migrants, most who have been sent on buses from Texas.

Chicago gets $160 million boost from state to address migrant crisis

The city is leasing the site and working to prepare it for the shelter amid protests over the past month.

Brighton Park migrant tent site construction blocked by protesters: ‘Show me the permit; I’m ready to go to jail.’

The property is owned by Barnacres, an entity connected to city contractor Sanchez Paving in Markham.

People have marched and demonstrated in opposition to plans for the site, and about a dozen protesters temporarily blocked construction crews this week.

Ramirez has taken heat from her constituents over the plan.

Though the city has said the land appears to be “viable” for use as a winterized tent camp for migrants, the pollution testing is necessary to determine if the area is safe for human health.

The land, zoned for heavy manufacturing, is surrounded by residential areas.

Over protests, city officials confirm Brighton Park tent plan, pending final ‘assessments’

“It seems obvious to us that people should not live on industrial sites,” said Anthony Moser, a member of the group Neighbors for Environmental Justice. “Even if they can clean the toxic metal out of the soil, it will still not be safe.”

Toxic past leads to concern about Brighton Park migrant tent site

More than 25,000 migrants have been bused or flown to Chicago, mostly from Texas, since August 2022. Handling the large number of new arrivals has been a challenge for the city.

Work on another possible migrant camp site at 115th and Halsted also is underway.

Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the state will fund a tent shelter and provide other assistance to asylum-seekers entering the city.

Johnson has said he will begin removing migrants from temporary shelters in January.

Multiple protests over a proposed Brighton Park migrant shelter have continued over the past month.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

O’Hare, Midway airports contaminated with PFAS forever chemicals, military investigators found

2023-11-10T11:00:00-06:00

The aftermath of a 2016 fire on a runway at O’Hare Airport. A firefighting foam with a toxic chemical was used to douse flames from the American Airlines plane.

Sun-Times file

When an American Airlines jetliner caught fire on an O’Hare Airport runway in October 2016, firefighters rushed to the scene.

Within three minutes, they’d blanketed the flames with a suffocating foam, a product used at airports for half a century.

Known as AFFF, it has been used by Chicago and military firefighters because it can extinguish intense jet fuel fires.

The foam, now being phased out, also contains toxic substances known as forever chemicals that have been linked to cancers, liver damage, low birth weights, high cholesterol and other health threats.

Those chemicals contaminated groundwater beneath city of Chicago-run O’Hare and Midway airports, military investigators have found. As part of a U.S. Defense Department-initiated cleanup nationwide, another round of testing is planned as soon as next year. The department estimates that national cleanup costs will come to $39 billion.

Little has been made public about the extensive use of the firefighting foam in Chicago, but the Defense Department is examining the spread of the chemicals from the city’s two airports, where military stations once operated.

The chemicals — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS for short — contaminated groundwater at the airports, investigators found, though the extent of the spread isn’t clear.

“PFAS was the go-to firefighting chemical on airfields — both civilian and military — across this country for the longest time,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, says. “We had no idea what the consequences of PFAS exposure was.”

Duckworth, an Army veteran who trained at Midway, is among lawmakers pushing for the cleanup. She’s also pressing for alternatives to the foams, which still are used at military sites and airports, though federal officials advise that their use be limited to emergencies.

“We had no idea what the consequences of PFAS exposure was,” says Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran who trained at Midway Airport. She is among lawmakers pushing for cleanup of the toxic chemicals at airports.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Sun-Times

Over decades, PFAS were spread at the airports through foam that spilled or was used for fires and training exercises. The military required its use. And large airports, such as O’Hare and Midway, made the product a standard for dousing petroleum-based fires. Tens of thousands of gallons of the foam have been stored at the two Chicago airports.

Firefighting foam isn’t the only product made with PFAS. Thousands of consumer products — including nonstick pans, waterproof clothing, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags and dental floss — can contain the chemicals, which have been used since the 1940s. Nearly 15,000 chemicals are in the class of compounds known as PFAS. It’s estimated that almost everyone in the United States has some level of PFAS in their bodies.

In addition to the Chicago Fire Department stations at O’Hare and Midway, the military had ample supplies on-site.

At O’Hare, the foam was used at an Air Force Reserve station from 1970 until it was closed in 1999. There are 11 locations at the former training site that need further investigation, according to an Air Force report in 2020 that says there were multiple spills in the 1990s at different locations.

At the base fire station, tanks holding thousands of gallons of foam were stored.

At Midway, the Illinois Army National Guard trained around an armory building that’s still standing on 63rd Street near Central Avenue. A Chicago Fire Department station is just to the east on 63rd Street.

The Army National Guard moved its base to Kankakee in 2017 after operating at Midway for much of the last century. A National Guard report, also completed in 2020, said it stored the PFAS foam but didn’t use it for training or on fires.

But possible releases of PFAS foam from spills in and around the armory would likely drain into the sewers that led to a water-treatment plant in Cicero, the report said.

Both military branches ruled out any immediate threat to drinking water because Chicago and most suburbs surrounding the airports depend on Lake Michigan water piped directly to homes.

The Air Force did an initial survey of suburban wells in the area within a mile around the airport and found no drinking water wells were immediately threatened.

Still, experts say the chemicals could now be in the ground beneath homes, surrounding areas and in the sewer system. Even after contaminated water is treated, the chemicals remain.

“Once it gets into groundwater and discharged, it’s there forever,” says Erik Olson, a senior strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

PFAS were branded forever chemicals because they don’t break down in the environment. Other than in small-scale lab experiments, nothing has been shown to destroy the chemicals, including processing at water treatment plants.

Northwestern University professor takes on forever chemicals

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, which operates the Stickney water treatment plant in Cicero, also distributes biosolids, or sludge, to mix in topsoil. It says it follows federal environmental guidelines that deem the material safe for growing produce.

Aware of the concern over PFAS, water reclamation district officials say they are awaiting federal environmental guidelines regarding testing for the chemicals and that finding alternative foams “could prove beneficial to our water resources and biosolids programs.”

Earlier this year, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued more than two dozen companies for making and selling the foam. It was one of three lawsuits Raoul filed over PFAS contamination, saying the product threatened health and polluted rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.

Illinois Attorney General sues 3M, other makers of ‘forever chemicals’

PFAS makers also are being sued by other cities, states and public water systems.

One of the biggest producers of PFAS products, 3M, said last year it would cease all use of the chemicals and has stopped making firefighting foam.

3M’s industry organization, the American Chemistry Council, says it “supports limitations on the use of AFFF for training and testing purposes while continuing to allow for its use during real-world [petroleum] fires.”

A study earlier this year found that freshwater fish, including some caught in Lake Michigan and Midwest rivers, had high levels of the chemicals.

The Federal Aviation Administration recommends airports use the PFAS firefighting foam only on fires, not in training.

Chicago’s aviation officials won’t answer questions about PFAS, citing the class-action litigation against the manufacturers — which they aren’t a party to.

“In response to emerging science regarding PFAS health impacts and in anticipation of regulatory action, the Chicago Department of Aviation has worked to ensure that PFAS at O’Hare and Midway are managed in a way that will not impact people or the environment,” according to a written statement from aviation department officials.

A city contractor, US Ecology, says it removed 200 tons of PFAS-contaminated soil from O’Hare last year and transported the dirt to a landfill in Michigan.

Removing the soil is a good step toward cleaning up contamination but doesn’t address the groundwater issue, says Jared Hayes, a senior policy analyst for the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C.

Both airports have their own fire stations. In addition to the 2016 fire, the fire department responded to others, including an engine fire at O’Hare recently, fire department spokesperson Lawrence Langford says.

O’Hare is largely surrounded by suburbs.

The Air Force examined possible drinking water contamination within a mile radius of its former 350-acre station at the Northwest Side airport.

Paul Carroll, an Air Force environmental engineer and geologist, says some unanswered questions will be addressed in the coming investigation.

But Carroll also says the answers to some questions, such as the extent of previous contamination of drinking water wells, might never be known.

“We can’t go back in history and assume things we can’t prove,” Carroll says.

The former armory at Midway on the Southwest Side was used for training by the Illinois Army National Guard for decades. Earlier this year, Chicago city officials announced plans to buy the 75,000-square-foot armory building and four surrounding acres from the state of Illinois.

“Should the city acquire this land and we have evidence of the presence of environmental hazards, we will take the necessary steps to mitigate it,” City Hall’s Law Department says.

Earlier this year, Chicago city officials said they want to buy the former Illinois National Guard armory at Midway Airport on 63rd Street near a residential area.

Brett Chase / Sun-Times

While the Army National Guard continues to examine the contamination at Midway, a spokesman says it’s possible that PFAS came from the fire department or an industrial source.

“I don’t want to say it’s not a problem — because it is,” says Lt. Col. Bradford Leighton, an Illinois National Guard spokesman. “But it’s also not out of the realm of possibility that it came from elsewhere.”

The National Guard report noted the proximity of the fire department station at Midway to the armory.

“Investigators will look at the most likely source of contamination, including who is most likely responsible,” Leighton says. “It would not be our place and far outside our authority to say who should clean PFAS that we are not responsible for.”

That provides little comfort to people who live nearby. The armory faces 63rd Street and a residential neighborhood.

Lorena Lopez lives a short walk from the airport. She says some of her neighbors have flooded basements when there’s a heavy rain.

“How do you get rid of forever chemicals out of your basement?” Lopez asked.

Another nearby resident, Mauricio Roman, says he and other runners often meet at Minuteman Park by Midway and would have liked to have known about possible contamination.

“It’s super concerning,” Roman says.

‘Forever chemicals’ PFAS linked to testicular cancer in study of military personnel

Allison Arwady takes CDC job after Brandon Johnson fired her as Chicago’s public health commissioner, will focus on overdoses, suicides

2023-11-09T16:31:46.061-06:00

Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s former public health commissioner, will go to work for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January after being fired by Mayor Brandon Johnson in August.

Pat Nabong /Sun-Times file

Dr. Allison Arwady, the public health commissioner who led Chicago through the COVID-19 pandemic and then was fired by Mayor Brandon Johnson, has been hired by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help fight the crisis of overdoses and suicides.

Arwady, 47, will start as the director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control on Jan. 16.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 45. Arwady called the drug deaths and suicides preventable tragedies that have created a public health crisis.

“When I was thinking about what to do next, I liked the idea of doing something quite different,” Arwady said Thursday. “These are the biggest issues right now.”

Chicago public health chief Dr. Allison Arwady fired after 3 years

An infectious diseases expert, Arwady previously worked for the CDC for two years as an epidemiologist before joining the city of Chicago’s public health agency.

She was promoted to commissioner of the agency by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in June 2019 and became the public face of the government’s COVID response in Chicago the following year.

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The Yale-educated pediatrician will work primarily in Atlanta but said she plans to keep a residence in Chicago.

Calling Chicago her “long-term home,” she said she hopes to see patients at a community health clinic and lead architectural tours in the city when she has time.

“I didn’t want to just pick up and be a commissioner in a different state or a different city,” she said.

Arwady said she misses her old job — which hasn’t been filled with a full-time replacement — but “respects the mayor’s decision” to choose another health commissioner.

Johnson fired Arwady on a Friday night in August after she had been lobbying to keep her job.

“Public health remains my passion,” Arwady tweeted Aug. 11, a short time after Johnson forced her out. “I am dedicated to continuing this work even if I am not able to continue to serve the city I love as your commissioner.”

Allison Arwady, city’s calming voice on COVID-19, hopes to stay on under next mayor

Arwady was lauded by a number of doctors and public health experts for her job steering the city through the pandemic.

Her role enforcing Lightfoot’s policies led to a clash with the Chicago Teachers Union — a key ally of Johnson — over when students could safely return to classes.

She also was at odds with some community organizations over the city’s approach to treating mental health. Some groups pushed to reopen city-run clinics that were closed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Allison Arwady, city’s calming voice on COVID-19, hopes to stay on under next mayor

As health commissioner, she oversaw environmental enforcement and permitting and found herself at the center of a storm of protest over the proposed relocation of the General Iron scrap metal operation from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side. Her decision to deny the business from opening at East 116th Street and the Calumet River is still being challenged by the business’ owner.

Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s coronavirus point person, has chased disease outbreaks worldwide

Biden Administration loans $336 million to Chicago to replace lead water pipes

2023-11-03T19:41:41.079-05:00

A city crew fixed a water pipe and replaced a lead service line in Calumet Heights Friday. Nearby, officials announced a $336 million loan to the city to help replace lead lines.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

President Joe Biden’s administration is loaning Chicago $336 million to help the city pay for the replacement of tens of thousands of lead water pipes.

Unfortunately, it’s not even close to being enough money to fix the problem of stopping brain-damaging lead from flowing through Chicagoans’ primary source of water.

With the loan finalized and announced Friday, the money is expected to help the city replace 30,000 lead service lines — out of more than 400,000 — the largest number in the country.

The loan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will help the city pay for lead line replacements when there is a leak or break or other maintenance required by the city.

“This is something that we can do. It is long past time that we do it,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth said at a news conference in Calumet Heights announcing the loan.

Duckworth made her comments in front of the home of Tourance Smith, who watched as a city crew fixed a pipe near his front yard and replaced the lead line connecting his plumbing to the city’s water supply.

Smith said he’s been drinking filtered water since he moved into his house about a year ago. He said he was told it would cost him $30,000 to replace the line if he paid for it himself.

“When they said it would be free, I said ‘sure,’” Smith said.

Other cities have tackled the lead pipe issue, some even declaring the problem a public health crisis. Chicago has by far the largest number of lead lines.

“Why is it important? Because there is no acceptable exposure to lead. Period,” said Sen. Dick Durbin.

To date, Chicago has replaced almost 3,800 lines from a total of about 409,000 — an updated figure that is larger than past estimates, Department of Water Management officials said Friday.

The city has a goal of replacing 8,000 lines next year, the department said.

The city has been criticized for years as being too slow to address the problem, and even modest targets for replacing lead service lines in low-income neighborhoods fell short under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.

Lightfoot’s plan to replace Chicago’s lead water pipes has switched out 280 of an estimated 390,000 service lines

The city’s water department was anticipating closing on the loan early this year, and the dollars were already penciled in to fund part of the pipe replacement program this year and beyond.

The money will be used to reimburse the city for part of the work done in 2023 and over the next several years.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers allowed Chicago to take more than 50 years to replace all the lead lines in the city, a much longer time frame than the Biden administration has suggested.

EPA officials acknowledge that Chicago is going to have to figure out how to ramp up its program beyond the just-announced loan.

“Chicago has a very big task before it,” the EPA’s Radhika Fox said in an interview. “More resources are going to be needed.”

Fox, an assistant administrator for water at EPA, added that Chicago and other cities will need to step up and try to tap all federal money sources.

“It’s time to get the lead out of communities across the country because there is no safe level of lead,” Fox said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said that the city will prioritize pipe replacements in low-income communities of color that have high numbers of lead pipes.

“Black and Brown communities are already grappling with the disparate environmental and health impacts,” Johnson said. “We recognize that lead exposure is a compounding factor that must be addressed.”

Johnson said child day care centers are being prioritized through a program started under Lightfoot.

Tourance Smith watches as a city crew repairs a water pipe and replaces a lead connecting line in his home. Smith has been drinking filtered water rather than water straight from the tap.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times