General Iron Relocation Reflects Trend of Environmental Racism in Chicago
General Iron is a metal scrapping company in Lincoln Park, currently re-locating to Chicago’s East Side despite local protests. Image via Flickr.
Residents of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood are familiar with the constant din and clouds of smog produced by General Iron, a metal scrapping company located along the Chicago River. General Iron has been cited 11 times for violations of pollution and nuisance laws in the past year alone and is a source of fugitive particulate matter. However, the neighborhood was excited to learn that the heavy polluter would soon be replaced by a 6 billion dollar infrastructure renovation project called Lincoln Yards. This project would replace Chicago’s northern industrial corridor with a modern residential and business district, featuring ample green spaces and direct access to the lakefront. It will also serve as a transportation hub to Chicagoans, providing access to virtually anywhere in the city and surrounding suburbs.
However, the question then arises of where General Iron will move after it is replaced in Lincoln Park. The company was granted a permit to move to a primarily Latinx neighborhood on the East Side, along the Calumet River. Unsurprisingly, this news was not taken well by residents of this neighborhood, considering that this region is already one of the most polluted areas in the city, with some of the lowest amounts of green space. There have been a number of organized protests outside Mayor Lightfoot’s home since the decision was announced, citing this as a clear example of environmental racism.
Recently, opponents of the move embarked on a hunger strike. 6 protestors committed to a liquids-only diet until the permit is officially denied. Despite the significant health impacts of this type of protest, one striker, co-founder of Southeast Youth Alliance Oscar Sanchez, told The Guardian that he felt motivated because, “if we need to put our lives on the line we do it because it’s for our current generation, our generation to come and our ancestors,”
On March 4th of this year, the hunger strikes ended unsuccessfully after a month without solid food, as Mayor Lightfoot ignored their demands to deny the permit. Protestors gathered outside of Mayor Lightfoot’s home in funeral attire, bearing a casket to represent fatalities due to the consequences of environmental racism.
Both the current pandemic and the rapidly changing climate have exposed huge disparities in how communities are affected. Communities of color experience dramatically increased rates of respiratory diseases such as asthma, primarily due to the increased amounts of particulate matter and other forms of pollution in these areas.
Additionally, Midwestern redlined areas experience temperatures that are approximately 3℃ warmer than their non-redlined counterparts. This is due to a lack of shading from trees and other green spaces. The EPA reported that the shade from trees can reduce surface temperatures by up to 25℃. Without the cooling benefits of parks and even simply trees along the streets, redlined neighborhoods will be significantly warmer, to an extent that is dangerous to the health of residents.
When the effects of climate change are discussed, it is rarely addressed that the warming temperatures are much hotter in communities of color than primarily white neighborhoods. Lincoln Park already has a vast amount of green space for residents to enjoy. The titular park contains 1,208 acres, making it the largest park in Chicago, and a frequent highlight in advertisements displaying the beauty of the city. The Southeast side has a much greater need for the benefits that new infrastructure like Lincoln Yards would provide, but instead, they receive a heavy polluter.
The General Iron situation is just one case study of a recurring pattern of environmental racism throughout history. Sierra Club director Hop Hopkins explained in his piece ‘Racism is Killing the Planet’ that “you can’t have climate change without sacrifice zones, and you can’t have sacrifice zones without disposable people, and you can't have disposable people without racism”. Dr. Robert Bullard found in his 2007 study that race was the most important factor in predicting the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities in the U.S., regardless of socioeconomic status. General Iron is one more example of a historical trend of disposing of unwanted polluters in communities of color.
The situation is looking even more dire for East Side residents, as a civil lawsuit filed against General Iron for deliberate racial discrimination was ruled in favor of the scrapping company on April 14th of this year. Despite this lack of success in the courtroom, community activists are not backing down from their fight with General Iron, even as the construction for the new site begins.