Members of the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban PetCoke took to the streets Saturday to push back against changes to a proposed ordinance to regulate petcoke piles in the city. They say the ordinance doesn’t go far enough in protecting their community from the dust particles that are making area residents sick. Some 200 protesters converged on Ald. John Pope’s (10th) ward office and KCBX Terminals, which stores the petcoke piles on the banks of the Calumet River, over the weekend in a call for a complete ban on petcoke piles.
Petcoke is a by-product from oil refineries that contains high concentrations of carbon and sulfur. Residents say high winds often blow the fine petcoke particles throughout the community often coating homes in black soot.
“If it falls short of removing the piles, it is not a good fix for our neighborhood,” said Marianne Blye, of the ordinance sponsored by Pope and Alderman Ed Burke (14th) and backed by the mayor.
Grassroots groups from all over Chicago’s progressive landscape came together for a Climate Convergence on Earth Day, chanting for environmental and economic justice. The activists marched to corporations they say are the worst environmental offenders to deliver cease-and-desist orders, including Boeing Co., JPMorgan Chase Bank, and the British Petroleum oil company.
“If we do not have immediate change, we will face climate catastrophe by 2050,’’ said Jackie Spreadbury, an organizer with Global Climate Convergence Chicago. She called for people, planets and peace over profits as the rally began in front of the State of Illinois Center Tuesday, The event included speeches and protest songs like “This Land is Your Land’’ and original songs tailored to the event.
“The forces against us are strong, so fight not just these ten days, but every day,’’ she said, referring to the 10 days of action GCC has scheduled through May 1, or May Day. The May Day event is a march from the historically significant Haymarket Square to the ICE building on Congress Street to fight for immigration rights. Click through for more details and check back with Progress Illinois for coverage of Chicago's May Day events.
A
Chicago community meeting the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(IEPA) hosted to discuss a proposed construction permit for KCBX Terminals
Company quickly escalated into angry shouting from Southeast Side
residents fed up with the firm storing large piles of petroleum coke, or petcoke, near their homes.
KCBX, which is controlled
by the conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch,
stockpiles the petcoke, a byproduct of oil refining, along the Calumet
River on Chicago's far Southeast side. The thick, powdery petcoke is
sent to KCBX from a BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana. East Side and South
Deering residents have been sounding the alarm for some time now that
petcoke dust is blowing into their neighborhoods and getting into their
homes.
"No one asked us if we wanted to have these piles dumped in the first place. They just did it," Southeast Side resident Sue Garza told the IEPA officials at the packed two-hour meeting, held at the East Side United Methodist Church. "We have been the toxic dumping ground here for over 100 years. We don't want it anymore."
A
Chicago program that works to provide free mammograms to uninsured
women may be at risk of being privatized or closed following the state's
decision to terminate the city health department's grant funding for
the effort over alleged mismanagement and quality of care
concerns.
During a Thursday press conference at City Hall, a
number of Chicago's African-American alderwomen, breast health
advocates and unionized workers said it's crucial for the city to invest
in the program in order to keep the program running and operated in-house.
Officials
with the Public Health Organization, which has members who are patients and workers of the city’s Breast
Health Program, said the city should continue funding the program while
it invests in correcting the mismanagement and quality of care issues, which prompted the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to pull the $296,000 in Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program funds back in April.
The city's Breast Health Program program serves thousands of women each year, and it is specifically focused on working to reduce
the breast cancer mortality rate among African-American women in
Chicago, a rate that is 62 percent higher than white women in the city. The health
advocates at Thursday's gathering said they are particularly worried that if the Breast Health
Program ends, four mammography sites located in low-income, minority communities would close.
The first ever long-term study examining the health impact idled U.S. nuclear reactors have on people living near the facilities found a significant drop in cancer incidents since the plant's closing, prompting
researchers to call for further study of other populations near
shuttered plants — including two in Illinois.
In a 20-year period since the California Rancho Seco nuclear reactor closed, there were 4,319 fewer cases of cancer reported in Sacramento County, which has a population of about 1.4 million. The shuttered plant is located about 25 miles from the center of Sacramento city.
The cancer drops were most notable in women,
Hispanics and children, according to Joseph Mangano, executive director
of the Radiation and Public Health Project, and co-author of the report
published today in the Biomedicine International journal.
“The
need here for more knowledge is great given how many reactors are near
major population centers,” Mangano said on a conference call with
reporters today. “The bottom line is clear. We need more information
about the long-term impact of low level radiation from both idled and
currently operating reactors.”
Manufacturers can legally add chlorinated tris to products, despite
the chemical’s link to cancer. Yesterday, the Illinois House
Judiciary Committee voted against banning the toxic flame retardant in
Illinois’ baby products and upholstered furniture.
Is Illinois doing everything it can to help in the
fight against cancer? Not quite, according to a new report from the American
Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
Illinois is one of 16 states that earned mixed
reviews after researchers measured policies aimed at improving cancer
prevention and treatments. The Prairie State garnered praise for hitting the
mark on four out of seven of the Cancer Society’s target issues, but they say
there’s still room to improve.
Members of the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban PetCoke took to the streets Saturday to push back against changes to a proposed ordinance to regulate petcoke piles in the city. They say the ordinance doesn’t go far enough in protecting their community from the dust particles that are making area residents sick. Some 200 protesters converged on Ald. John Pope’s (10th) ward office and KCBX Terminals, which stores the petcoke piles on the banks of the Calumet River, over the weekend in a call for a complete ban on petcoke piles.
Grassroots groups from all over Chicago’s progressive landscape came together for a Climate Convergence on Earth Day, chanting for environmental and economic justice. The activists marched to corporations they say are the worst environmental offenders to deliver cease-and-desist orders, including Boeing Co., JPMorgan Chase Bank, and the British Petroleum oil company.
A
Chicago community meeting the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(IEPA) hosted to discuss a proposed construction permit for KCBX Terminals
Company quickly escalated into angry shouting from Southeast Side
residents fed up with the firm storing large piles of petroleum coke, or petcoke, near their homes.
A
Chicago program that works to provide free mammograms to uninsured
women may be at risk of being privatized or closed following the state's
decision to terminate the city health department's grant funding for
the effort over alleged mismanagement and quality of care
concerns.
The first ever long-term study examining the health impact idled U.S. nuclear reactors have on people living near the facilities found a significant drop in cancer incidents since the plant's closing, prompting
researchers to call for further study of other populations near
shuttered plants — including two in Illinois. 
Is Illinois doing everything it can to help in the
fight against cancer? Not quite, according to a 