Chicago has a long history of environmental racism. Polluting industrial manufacturing plants were allowed by policymakers for years to establish facilities hazardous to the environment and human health near neighborhoods predominantly populated by Black and Hispanic communities.
Environmental racism is a widespread, historical phenomenon across the United States, publicly acknowledged only since the 1980s. It refers to the intentional placing of polluting facilities, such as industrial sites, landfills, airports, and military facilities, near communities of color and other socio-economically disadvantaged communities or the displacement of such communities near hazardous facilities through discriminating land-use policies. A report published by Princeton University states that although African Americans make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. population, they are 75% more likely than white people to live in areas near facilities that produce noise, odor, and traffic, and 68 percent live near coal-fired power plants. Living in an area with low air quality causes various health problems, mainly asthma. Another study has shown that African American and Hispanic communities have twice as many oil and gas wells in their neighborhoods than white communities.
Drinking water contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a significant emerging problem in the country, including Illinois. However, research on PFAS exposure in communities of color is still lacking. PFAS are a large group of highly toxic, synthetic chemicals used since the 1950s in various household products and aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). AFFF is a type of firefighting foam produced to extinguish fuel fires. PFAS have been named “forever chemicals” because they are persistent and very mobile in the environment. It takes an indeterminately long time for PFAS to break down in air, soil, surface, and groundwater. It’s been scientifically proven that long-term exposure to PFAS causes severe diseases such as decreased fertility, weakened immune systems, and various types of cancers.
A recent study published in May 2023 by Harvard University’s School of Public Health is the first-ever research focusing on drinking water contamination by PFAS in certain communities of color. The researchers looked at the connection between the level of contamination and the proximity of PFAS pollution sites to the watersheds serving such communities. The scientists concluded that communities with higher rates of Black and Hispanic individuals are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of PFAS than other communities. They found higher risk levels between 10-108% (PFOA) and 20-34% (PFOS), which are the two types of PFAS linked to cancer.
Following extensive research, in March 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) changed its recommendations related to the safe exposure level of PFAS in drinking water, reducing the maximum contamination levels (MCL) of PFOA and PFOS from 70 parts per trillion (ppt) to 4 ppt. This means that no PFAS contamination level is safe.
Chicago, environmental racism and PFAS
The majority of Chicago’s residents, 67,3%, are people of color, out of which 28,8 % are Black. The Southeast and West sides of Chicago, where most communities of color live, is a so-called “sacrifice zone” where polluted air and water, illegal dumping, and inappropriate storage of hazardous waste put people’s health and well-being at a disproportionately higher risk compared to “white neighborhoods.” More people have cancer, asthma, respiratory issues, and cardiovascular diseases than in other parts of the city. PFAS contaminating the drinking water of these communities is adding to the list of environmental injustice concerns.
One of the largest PFAS polluters in Chicago is O’Hare Air Reserve Station, a military base where, in 2020, the level of PFOA and PFOS detected was 13,800 ppt. PFAS originating from military installations contaminate private and public drinking water sources of citizens across the country. The Department of Defense (DOD) acknowledges the issue; however, cleanup and remediation activities are notoriously slow. The problem is worrying as the DOD still operates with the old 70 ppt MCL.
The Air Force Base is only one source of PFAS contamination in Chicago. In 2021, the Illinois EPA conducted large-scale PFAS monitoring in Chicago and across the state. The interactive map with the results shows that numerous drinking water systems in the city contain PFAS above the safe exposure level. The Environmental Working Group’s PFAS contamination map, with results collected between 2020 and 2023, confirms the problem.
PFAS has numerous sources. They can leak into groundwater from industrial sites, manufacturing plants, airports, and fire departments where AFFF is used. One might ask: is drinking water contamination with PFAS a known but neglected problem in some parts of Chicago? Undoubtedly, the PFAS problem adds to the long list of environmental injustices Chicago’s communities of color endure.
Urgent policy change is needed to tackle environmental racism
As a result of a civil rights complaint filed by three Southeast Side environmental justice organizations in 2020, in May 2023, the city of Chicago agreed to reform long-standing environmental justice policies and implement significant remedial activities in the affected areas in Chicago. The environmental justice organizations filed the complaint after another heavy industrial facility was planned to be relocated in Southeast Chicago.
It is a historic settlement, an example to follow, which calls attention to decades of racist policies threatening the health of already disadvantaged communities. Communities of color are at a higher risk of developing severe illnesses compared to other groups of people, even when PFAS and other toxic exposure levels are the same. They have less access to medical care or safer alternatives, and their voices are often neglected. Environmental racism is part of a system that discriminates against certain communities, including communities of color. The Environmental Justice Act of Illinois acknowledges that some segments of the population disproportionately suffer from environmental hazards because the state permitted some facilities to pollute. Acknowledgment is the first step, but it is not enough. Environmental justice organizations fighting for policy change, like the ones in Southeast Chicago, need our support to continue the fight.
Jonathan Sharp is Chief Financial Officer at Environmental Litigation Group, P.C. The law firm, headquartered in Birmingham, AL, assists individuals and communities injured by toxic exposure. Jonathan Sharp’s primary responsibilities are case evaluations, management of firm assets, and financial analysis.
