By Lily O’Leary
A drive from South Shore to Lakeview reveals a stark truth about Chicago: factories and polluting industries cluster on the South Side, while northern neighborhoods remain largely untouched. This disparity is no coincidence—it stems from decades of racially charged policies that shield white, affluent areas from the burdens of air pollution, waste accumulation, and toxic runoff.
In recent years, this pattern of environmental inequity became the subject of a two-year federal civil rights investigation. Set in motion by South Side communities and overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), this investigation marked a turning point in Chicago’s environmental justice movement.
The tipping point came in 2020 with the proposed relocation of the General Iron scrap metal facility from Lincoln Park to East 116th Street along the Calumet River, a majority-Black and Latino community. For residents already struggling with the cumulative impacts of industrial pollution, the move felt like one more insult in a long history of environmental racism.
Community members and activist groups pushed back with protests, formal complaints, and even a month-long hunger strike, gaining national attention for its risk amid a global pandemic. While most participants joined one-day solidarity strikes, a few continued over 25 days. Their remarkable dedication paid off: HUD found the city guilty of discriminating against low-income communities of color by steering polluting businesses into their neighborhoods. Feeling the scrutiny, Chicago denied General Iron the operating permit it needed to open on the South Side.
The resulting settlement went further than blocking General Iron. It reshaped how heavy industry is regulated in the city, requiring regular cumulative impact assessments, stronger public transparency, and updated industry-specific rules to reduce pollution.
But today, these protections have come under threat. Just last month, the Trump administration ordered HUD to stop monitoring the civil rights agreement tied to General Iron. With federal oversight withdrawn, South and West Side residents are left to wonder whether these hard-won protections for their communities will endure.
The responsibility of upholding equity now falls to local leadership. Mayor Brandon Johnson has
expressed support for a new environmental protection ordinance that would place stricter limits on where polluting industries can operate and require companies to disclose their impacts in community meetings. However, it has not yet been enacted or reviewed in court.
Though the federal government has looked the other way, Chicago residents are still fighting for environmental justice. Our city faces a choice: continue a historic pattern of concentrating polluting industries in the same neighborhoods, or commit to a healthier, more equitable future for all residents.