Joint Committee: Environmental Protection and Energy; Health and Human Relations meeting, October 3, 2023
- When: Tue, Oct 3, 2023, 9:00 AM (Chicago time)
- Where: City Council Chamber, 2nd Floor, City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street - Chicago, IL 60602
- Status: Scheduled & Published
- Video: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8928494/video/870368107
- Transcript: full text (24,086 words, official captions)
Meeting notes
AI-written from the transcript. Speakers are inferred from cues in the recording, so treat names as estimates and check the video at the linked time.
The joint Committees on Environmental Protection and Energy and on Health and Human Relations held a subject-matter hearing on the city's Cumulative Impact Assessment, a report required under the city's voluntary compliance agreement with HUD. Public commenters and community environmental justice leaders supported a cumulative impacts policy but criticized the census-tract-based environmental justice index map for leaving out areas next to industrial corridors, rail yards and diesel truck routes. City staff from the Office of Climate and Environmental Equity, the Department of Public Health, CDOT and Planning presented the methodology, the environmental justice action plan and policy recommendations, and said a cumulative impacts ordinance will be drafted later. Members asked about the map methodology, diesel idling enforcement, fleet electrification, federal funding, and protections near schools; no votes were taken on the report.
Topics: Cumulative Impact Assessment, environmental justice index map, diesel truck pollution, idling enforcement, industrial corridors, fleet electrification, public health interventions, co-governance, federal climate funding
Agenda items discussed
- 55:09 Subject matter hearing on the Chicago Cumulative Impact Assessment report and environmental justice index: discussed
Alderpersons who spoke
- Maria E. Hadden (chair): Explained the hearing stems from a HUD complaint and settlement after the Hilco smokestack demolition and General Iron relocation, requiring the city to assess policies that created pollution-burdened areas. (55:09); Said the report is a beginning, a cumulative impact ordinance will be drafted for council consideration, and community partners should keep holding the city accountable. (57:37)
- Rossana Rodríguez Sánchez (chair): Said she heard the concerns about the map, that the committees want to get it right, and that environmental justice is a public health and racial justice issue. (53:18)
- Daniel La Spata (alderperson): Asked why some census tracts, such as southern Bridgeport near industrial areas, were left out of the EJ map. (2:04:06); Asked for an online map showing data by tract and asked about uptake of $42 million committed to commercial fleet electrification. (2:08:00); Asked what happens with 311 diesel idling complaints and requested a summary of idling citations over three years by ZIP code. (2:11:36)
- Timothy R. Knudsen (alderperson): Said he believes the city is doing very little diesel idling enforcement and that enforcement is the biggest issue for environmental rules. (2:13:56)
- Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (alderperson): Said a tour of the 10th Ward showed pollution patterns result from infrastructure decisions and asked how 311 and OEMC will be used. (2:14:54); Asked how new policies will be enforced and how the private sector will be held accountable and included. (2:17:15)
- Bennett R. Lawson (alderperson): Noted that enforcement departments such as BACP and OEMC were not in the working group and asked about built-environment mitigation for existing industries. (2:17:51); Said the city should attract clean industry and asked how many new businesses have been reviewed under the air quality zoning ordinance. (2:21:02); Asked what co-governance means and whether the city is delegating decision-making authority. (2:23:02)
- Byron Sigcho-López (alderperson): Asked how the census-tract methodology can capture rail and manufacturing district impacts and said the map should be corrected. (2:29:12); Said he disagrees with allowing industrial uses by right and called the choice between health and jobs a false premise. (2:29:45); Cited a metal facility in the 25th Ward that he said operates with lower standards than in New York and asked how to make regulation consistent. (2:36:08)
- Ruth Cruz (alderperson): Thanked presenters, said diesel truck idling is also a problem on the Northwest Side, and called for more enforcement. (2:48:00); Asked whether CPS is part of the interdepartmental working group and whether other cities have similar EJ initiatives. (2:50:13)
- Julia M. Ramirez (alderperson): Asked how planning accounts for existing businesses near new housing and whether polluting businesses could be relocated. (2:53:18); Said the 12th Ward lacks protections around schools and parks from truck traffic and asked whether sacrifice zones get priority. (2:55:47); Proposed internships and canvassing programs for young people, modeled on pandemic outreach, to continue the assessment work. (2:57:44)
- Michael D. Rodriguez (alderperson): Commended the chairs and administration for the process and said his ward removed hundreds of illegally parked trucks by working with city departments. (3:02:25); Said he voted no on the prior air quality ordinance because it did not go far enough and called for green jobs that include organized labor. (3:03:43)
Exchanges between members
- 2:14:39 La Spata thanked Knudsen for his clarification on diesel idling enforcement.