Chicago violated civil rights by moving polluting business to mainly Black and Latino area, government report finds

Housing department also warned mayor’s office of funding losses if no action taken

The US government has found Chicago in violation of people’s civil rights after a polluting scrap metal facility planned to relocate to the city’s Southside, where a majority of the population are Latino and Black.

General Iron, a controversial scrap metal works, had previously operated in the mainly white Lincoln Park neighbourhood of Chicago’s North Side before agreeing in late 2019 to move to Southside, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

An operating permit was denied by the city in February this year, however, after the Biden administration raised concerns of “environmental injustice” and campaigners called out existing pollution concerns in the area.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sent the results of a two-year long investigation into the saga to mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office, which was obtained by NBC News.

The report said a “broader policy of shifting polluting activities from White neighbourhoods to Black and Hispanic neighbourhoods, despite the latter already experiencing a disproportionate burden of environmental harms,” had been in violation of Chicago residents’ civil rights.

According to the report, HUD called on Ms Lightfoot’s office to adopt an “enhanced fair housing planning process that includes planning for overcoming disparities in environmental impacts,” of face losing some $375m in federal grant money for housing and enforcement by the Department of Justice.

The mayor’s office told NBC News in a statement: “Unfortunately, HUD leaked their letter, as they have done in the past. We will respond given the opportunity but any allegations that we have done something to compromise the health and safety of our Black and Brown communities are absolutely absurd; we will demonstrate that and prove them wrong.”

A view of the scrap metal facility site in Chicago that has come under criticism (CBS Chicago)

Local residents and campaigners fought the scrap metal works proposals on environmental and public health grounds for two years amid concerns about already high levels of pollution in Southside, where a majority of the population are non-white.

Authorities had accused General Iron of polluting and nuisance in Lincoln Park on 11 counts between December 2019 and March 2020, as well as for two explosive that occurred in May 2020, before the mayor’s office agreed to its relocation as part of an “exit plan”, as NBC News reported.

That ultimately led to the Chicago mayor’s office – having originally agreed to the scrap metal work’s relocation – to deny an operating permit to owners Reserve Management Group in February. The company took legal action against the city for what it said was the  “result of bad faith, bias and/or improper political influence”.

The Independent has approached Reserve Management Group and Ms Lightfoot’s office for comment.