Pilsen ‘serial polluter’ shouldn’t get new permit for shredding metal, residents say - WBEZ Chicago

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Mayor Brandon Johnson should halt an operating permit review for a scrap-metal shredding operation in Pilsen, a coalition of Southwest Side community groups said Monday.

Sims Metal Management is seeking the type of permit that was previously sought by the relocated General Iron to the Southeast Side. That business was denied a permit by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and now community groups are asking Johnson to pause the Sims request.

The city has posted a proposed draft permit online and is accepting public comments on the document through Nov. 7. Submit comments to [email protected].

Sims, which has operated for years at 2500 S. Paulina St., has been cited by state and federal officials in the past for violating environmental laws. Through a settlement six years ago with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company entered into an agreement with the government to improve its pollution controls.

Then in 2021, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued the company saying Sims wasn’t showing that it was reducing air pollution from its Paulina site.

“Sims has been in violation, not once or twice but many, many, many times,” Theresa McNamara, chairwoman of the Southwest Environmental Alliance, told the Sun-Times. “This is what the mayor needs to look at. He needs to see that this is a serial polluter.”

Under an agreement with the state, Sims is building new equipment to contain emissions from the site.

“They should not get a permit [from the city] until they put in the equipment,” McNamara added. “We need the mayor to stop giving Sims special treatment by overlooking their history in our community.”

Scrap metal is loaded into a container at Sims Metal Management in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file

Federally ordered air monitoring around Sims has so far shown no dangerous levels of pollution, a city spokeswoman said, though that testing will continue “until the new controls are installed” and “confirmed to be operating correctly.”

“If monitoring data collected over the last year represent typical levels, emissions from Sims would not cause either short- or long-term health effects for the community near the facility,” spokeswoman Grace Adams said.

In a statement Monday, Sims said “the health and safety of the community, particularly nearby residents, as well as our employees, remains our No. 1 priority.”

The Sims permit process began under Lightfoot, who stopped a similar car-shredding operation from opening on the Southeast Side in early 2022. A relocated and rebranded General Iron was hoping to open at East 116th Street along the Calumet River after it shut down in Lincoln Park following a push from the city.

In that permit denial decision, Lightfoot’s health department cited concerns about the cumulative effects of air pollution from multiple industrial sources.

With the rejection of the Southeast Side permit, that left Sims as the only car-shredding facility in the city.

Lightfoot also initially pushed back against a federal civil rights investigation that deemed the city’s planning, zoning and land-use policies were discriminatory.

On her last day in office, Lightfoot signed a binding agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development promising to change the city’s practices.

Johnson vowed to abide by the agreement and more than a year ago promised to move forward on reforms, though little progress has been made.

McNamara and her allies point to the HUD agreement as a reason Johnson should not proceed with the Sims permit decision.

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