This story was originally published by Borderless magazine. Participate in the newsletter to find out the most recent about immigrant societies in Chicago.
Chicago – The Agency has been facing capabilities to conduct more inspections during a Wednesday session in front of the Environmental Protection and Energy Committee in the city council.
The meeting came when environmental groups sought to obtain answers regarding management plans to install 140 air pollution sensors, the ability and commitment of management in cooperation with environmental community groups in the areas contaminated strongly.
The CDPH Commissioner, Dr. Olusimbo Ige, told the committee members that the ministry had only three inspectors and was looking to fill three vacant inspectors. CDPH is the main environmental organizer of the city, granting operating permits, conducting inspections, and issuing categories for environmental decree violations.
CDPH Maribel Chavez Torres said that the administration performed 393 routine inspections and more than 4,500 inspections in response to complaints, which must be performed within a day of the complaint that is submitted.
Ige said that most of the inspections took place in high -income areas in the city because most of the complaints they received were from those areas.
Committee members Ald. Julia Ramirez (12) and Ald. Matthew Martin (47) asked CDPH to explain his quotes, and she wonders about the reason for not tickets and accurate facilities of continuous violations until an existing violation is settled.
Under the City Law, the administration cannot cite the company or the same source several times for the same violation when the quote is already in the hearing process.
Martin said that the quote can stimulate companies to postpone the treatment of air pollution issues, “to continue to put these harmful chemicals in the air when they know what solutions are.”
In response to questions about the issues of replacement of the lead line, Ige said that the administration realizes that the areas that were affected by an impartially affected, but the city depends on federal financing. Ige said it is “tense” about potential cuts on federal funds used to address such issues. She said that the city is receiving about 600 million dollars from the federal government.
“We have always had this data, but having data is not enough without resources to solve the problem,” said Ige. “These are the real facts of the limited resources we have in the city, and we need the federal government.”
During the session, the administration also announced a timetable for the suspended air control program. The installation will occur in the summer and will be followed by the launch of a dashboard available to the public with data collected from the new sensors.
The session pursued a gathering in the city hall, where some environmental defenders demanded the release of the city, “The Hazel Johnson Decree of the GPA” to review the community before submitting it and offering it before the vote.
“Let's analyze whether or not (the decree) is useful for us,” said the Tersa Reyes McKina, head of the southwestern environmental alliance.
It will lead to policy reforms to better protect the population from environmental burdens based on recommendations from the inputs of society and the results of the evaluation concluded in 2023.
The Chairman of the Committee, Ald. Maria Hadwad (49) told the Border Magazine before the session that the cumulative influence law will not be discussed in the session because it relates more to the environment department.
CDPH did not discuss the decree in the session and the environment department did not respond to a request before publishing.
Meanwhile, a network of environmental advocacy groups, the Environmental Justice Network in Chicago (CEJN), issued a statement supporting the decree, saying that it was formed through years of participation from the leaders of environmental justice and members of society.
Hazel's daughter M. Johnson, Sherrill Johnson, Executive Director of the People to Restore Society, support this matter.
“It took a lot to get here and we can continue to build on the frame in the decree and add the teeth,” she said. “My mother worked hard so that we don't make progress in this.
The decree is expected to be presented at the next city council meeting on April 16.
Aydali Campa is a report by a member of the American Corps and covers environmental justice and migrant societies of the Sad -Border Magazine. Send her email on Aydali@borderlessmag.org.
