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Hey, governor! What about this?

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In Willowbrook, where the census tract most affected by ethylene oxide is 77 percent white and has an average per capita income of more than $71,000 a year, the EPA sent high-level officials last August to explain the risk locals faced from the chemical as soon as the federal report identifying it was made public. On the same day, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, or ATSDR, also released a report the EPA had requested about ethylene oxide in Willowbrook. In November, the EPA began monitoring the air there. And by February, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency closed the plant. The governor sent out a tweet celebrating the closure and committing to protect “the health and well-being of every Illinoisan.”

But in Waukegan, where the census tract most affected by the chemical is only 25 percent white and has a per capita income of just over $14,000, the same dangerous chemical is still in the air. Although the EPA and the state have known about the ethylene oxide in Lake County and other hotspots around the country since at least August, Burdette and the others residents learned of its presence in their air from the newspaper six months after Willowbrook residents were briefed about it. No high-level officials came to Waukegan or Gurnee to address the local risk.

And while Sterigenics was stopped from releasing ethylene oxide in Willowbrook, the Medline plant in Waukegan and the Vantage facility in Gurnee continue to emit the chemical. So far, the EPA has not done any air monitoring for ethylene oxide near either plant. Meanwhile, the federal agency has continued collecting air samples in Willowbrook even after that plant closed in February. […]

The lag in the federal and state response to their problem has left some Lake County residents feeling like second-class citizens. “We want what Willowbrook got,” Jolanta Pomiotlo, a Gurnee resident of 18 years and founding member of Stop EtO in Lake County, told me recently. “We’re being told by our government agencies that all of the resources are being dedicated to Sterigenics, and they can’t afford to pay for testing in Lake County. Apparently only wealthy communities are entitled to resources from the state.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:25 pm

Comments

Sadly, I think this is mostly a “squeaky wheel gets the grease” situation. Sterigenics was front and center in the news for weeks. Medline was not. Partially that’s because the wealthy and famous people around Willowbrook (think Jim Thome) know how to make a bigger stink.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:29 pm
Can’t make something a campaign issue and ignore why it was an issue, and ignore what needs to be done.

Not great.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:33 pm
===know how to make a bigger stink===

Very true. Mrs. Thome was a TV reporter, so she knows that medium. But Pritzker prolly got a lot more votes in Waukegan than he did in Willowbrook.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:34 pm
===So far, the EPA has not done any air monitoring for ethylene oxide near either plant. Meanwhile, the federal agency has continued collecting air samples in Willowbrook even after that plant closed in February.===

The issue is greater than “Willowbrook”

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:35 pm
===the Medline plant in Waukegan and the Vantage facility in Gurnee continue to emit the chemical.===

Does Bruce Rauner’s former firm have a stake in either of those?

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:40 pm
There needs to be more thorough reporting here. An effort needs to be made to put local, state and federal officials on the record.

A couple of excerpts from written EPA statements doesn’t cut it. I can’t imagine why local and state officials weren’t put on the spot and quoted. That’s just SOP.

Commit some journalism here and make some officials commit to a position.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:41 pm
I’m not saying that the economic status of the communities didn’t play, but if you look at the National Air Toxins Assessment map. It shows that Willowbrook’s residents were in a higher risk area. The area surrounding Medline is in the EPA’s “acceptable risk range” unlike Willowbrook.

Comment by Anon225 Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:42 pm
Boy - all the one-time all-out cheerleaders of this Governor are really starting to lose their patience. Be easy….he just got his first Madigan lesson yesterday.

Comment by hot chocolate Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:47 pm
If I were Sterigenics I would sue whoever installed the pollution control devices. Chicago Tribune: In 2018 Sterigenics said in a statement it installed this new equipment to “control the back vent process emissions.”
After installing the equipment Sterigenics got even higher ethylene oxide readings. Chicago Tribune 2/21/19: The levels of ethylene oxide detected by air monitors near Sterigenics in Willowbook in January were the highest readings since the federal government began testing.

That’s not how that’s supposed to work.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:48 pm
The blame goes back to Rauner and his worthless EPA directors he had who cared less to protect the Illinois people and cared more to shield Rauner. You all have no idea the damage done to IEPA.

Comment by Truthteller Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:54 pm
Environmental law in Illinois is decades behind and some of the consequences are now coming home to roost. A bad staffing situation at IEPA was made drastically worse during the Rauner years, and now the agency is uanble to fullfil its duty under law by enforcing the permits it grants.

Look forward to lawsuits against the state and agency as more of these situations arise and more and more communities ask why they didn’t get the “Willowbrook special” of urgent government action. Alternatively, we could fund the IEPA so they can do their job.

Comment by Bobby Beagle Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:55 pm
I am old I am white I used to be a Republican committee man and you can figure out I am from DuPage. I am sick of slicing and dicing. We are all citizen of Illinois. We all deserve equal treatment and care. That is what our state and citizens should supply. Englewood, Cairo or Eastern separatists figure it out. You have the honor to serve so serve

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:36 pm
= The blame goes back to Rauner and his worthless EPA directors he had who cared less to protect the Illinois people… =

= A bad staffing situation at IEPA was made drastically worse during the Rauner years… =

And just what has Pritzker done to fix the leadership void at IEPA? Virtually nothing. He elevated a member of the Rauner senior management team at IEPA to the directorship position. Pritzker also kept the same bureau chiefs in place at the agency. The issue has as much to do with administration and management as staffing. You have to question decisions made by this Governor and his failure to bring in new leadership at IEPA, which in turn could make information sharing, environmental justice and community engagement a high priority at the agency.

Comment by Going nuclear Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 4:10 pm
I wondered about this. This is not surprising. It has been an issue for decades. It is an issue throughout the U.S. and across the planet. It has names. “Environmental Justice” and “Toxic Colonialism.” It goes well beyond this obvious pair.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 4:10 pm
Rauner wrecked state agencies that investigate things. Public Health, IL EPA, State’s OSHA, DCFS, and Fire Marshall are all dangerously short staffed.

Comment by The Dude Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 5:39 pm
Wow, congrats rich. You managed to take everything interesting and compelling about that article and reduce it to: woman wants to speak to the manager because she didn’t get what someone else got.

Comment by The Doc Wednesday, May 8, 19 @ 12:17 am
==woman wants to speak to the manager because she didn’t get what someone else got.==

The woman, Pomiotlo, is an activist. What “someone else got” was people stopped being poisoned.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Thursday, May 9, 19 @ 6:51 am