Sample Letters to advocate against the Confined Disposal Facility
Please use the below sample letters to send emails to as many contacts as you can at different levels of government. You will find their contact information next to or below the sample letter. We are targeting City, State, and Federal Officials to step in in particular ways where they have the power to stop this. We are also asking federal legislators to step in to guide the US Army Corps of Engineers to a more appropriate location.
You can switch out any target in the salutation of the letter (where we have put state legislators as a sample) with other targets listed in the cc: below. Just make sure to include in the cc: list, and include them on the cc: line of your email, any other public officials we have listed and/or also your alderman if you so choose.
Please copy [email protected] to your emails so we can track our collective efforts. Let’s work together to right this egregious wrong.
You can switch out any target in the salutation of the letter (where we have put state legislators as a sample) with other targets listed in the cc: below. Just make sure to include in the cc: list, and include them on the cc: line of your email, any other public officials we have listed and/or also your alderman if you so choose.
Please copy [email protected] to your emails so we can track our collective efforts. Let’s work together to right this egregious wrong.
EMAIl (city council members)
Subject Line: CDF pollution dump contributing to cumulative impacts on SE Side
To: City Council members (scroll down for emails)
CC: [email protected]
Email Text:
Dear [insert Alderman's name],
As Mayor Lightfoot responds to the US EPA’s intervention regarding Environmental Justice concerns on the Southeast Side in relation to the RMG/General Iron relocation, we wanted to make sure you are aware of a related, urgent issue.
The 10th Ward also is the site of an additional immediate threat that the City of Chicago is quietly enabling—the Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) pollution dump—contributing to additional air pollution and jeopardizing Chicago’s water supply. Originally brought into this issue because the pollution dump that is the subject of this letter is immediately adjacent to Calumet Park and was scheduled to be closed in 2022 and turned into public parkland, Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission is to: “inspire, equip, and mobilize a diverse Chicago to ensure an equitable park system for a healthy Chicago.”
This CDF expansion effort flies in the face of public and park health. As such, we have been organizing alongside the Alliance of the SouthEast regarding this issue. As a group of staff and community leaders, we previously met with the acting chief sustainability officer and more recently brought Angela Tovar up to speed upon her installation as Chief Sustainability Officer.
The CDF pollution dump is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) and sits on the shores of Lake Michigan at the confluence with the Calumet River. FOTP forced the Army Corps to make available to the public documents that reveal that the container currently is leaching toxins such as PCBs, mercury, lead, and arsenic into the water supply. And toxins set out to dry after being dredged from the bottom of the river can become airborne and contribute to the cumulative effects that are to be studied.
Yet the mayor seeks to cooperate with the Army Corps to extend the life of this facility for 20 more years by building 25 feet higher, right in the path of lakeshore erosion that is already ravaging our lakefront.
For decades, the Army Corps has continued to dump toxic dredge in this facility which originally was meant to last for 10 years and then be capped and closed in 1994. The Illinois General Assembly’s legislative intent at the outset was for the land to be turned over to the Chicago Park District for expansion of the adjacent Calumet Park. Indeed, the land ownership legally has now been transferred to the park district. But they are now complying with the City’s plans, via the Chicago Department of Transportation commitment to participate as a cost share partner, to keep the CDF operating at that site for at least two more decades.
Your immediate intervention is called for to ensure this issue is included in potential new legislation to come before City Council regarding the consideration of cumulative effects of pollution in an Environmental Justice community as well as to keep the taxpayers of Chicago from contributing to threats to our water supply.
The CDF sits in the same part of the city that has fought serial polluters such as RMG/General Iron, and other high profile pollution dangers such as manganese and petcoke. In support of Southeast Side organizers, FOTP had written to EPA Administrator Michael Regan to ask his agency to come see the many burdens that the Southeast Side has had to bear on behalf of all of Chicago.
So we are extremely thankful for federal intervention to halt the final permit for RMG/General Iron and request further review on the health impacts of the facility--in combination with other pollutants in the area. In that regard, it is very important to note that Administrator Regan’s letter also specifically noted that the area has a very high level of various environmental hazards, “fine particulate matter, air toxics cancer risk, respiratory hazard, traffic proximity, lead paint, Superfund site proximity, hazardous waste proximity and wastewater discharges.”
We will also be asking Administrator Regan and Illinois legislators to ensure that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency considers the cumulative impacts of the heavy burden of pollution the Southeast Side carries and deny the Army Corp’s renewal for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit when it is filed.
The City’s and the Chicago Park District’s collusion on this expansion without a public vetting process of potential sites outside the 10th Ward in an Environmental Justice Community is an act of environmental racism. Chicago public officials must demand that the Army Corps, the Mayor’s Office, CDOT, and the Chicago Park District explain why they think the 10th Ward should carry this additional water and air pollution burden for the rest of us. We need leadership that works for a real, sustainable solution that neither burdens the 10th Ward nor threatens our water supply.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Policy and Communications Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information or visit www.fotp.org for detailed information about the proposed expansion of the CDF pollution dump.
To: City Council members (scroll down for emails)
CC: [email protected]
Email Text:
Dear [insert Alderman's name],
As Mayor Lightfoot responds to the US EPA’s intervention regarding Environmental Justice concerns on the Southeast Side in relation to the RMG/General Iron relocation, we wanted to make sure you are aware of a related, urgent issue.
The 10th Ward also is the site of an additional immediate threat that the City of Chicago is quietly enabling—the Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) pollution dump—contributing to additional air pollution and jeopardizing Chicago’s water supply. Originally brought into this issue because the pollution dump that is the subject of this letter is immediately adjacent to Calumet Park and was scheduled to be closed in 2022 and turned into public parkland, Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission is to: “inspire, equip, and mobilize a diverse Chicago to ensure an equitable park system for a healthy Chicago.”
This CDF expansion effort flies in the face of public and park health. As such, we have been organizing alongside the Alliance of the SouthEast regarding this issue. As a group of staff and community leaders, we previously met with the acting chief sustainability officer and more recently brought Angela Tovar up to speed upon her installation as Chief Sustainability Officer.
The CDF pollution dump is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) and sits on the shores of Lake Michigan at the confluence with the Calumet River. FOTP forced the Army Corps to make available to the public documents that reveal that the container currently is leaching toxins such as PCBs, mercury, lead, and arsenic into the water supply. And toxins set out to dry after being dredged from the bottom of the river can become airborne and contribute to the cumulative effects that are to be studied.
Yet the mayor seeks to cooperate with the Army Corps to extend the life of this facility for 20 more years by building 25 feet higher, right in the path of lakeshore erosion that is already ravaging our lakefront.
For decades, the Army Corps has continued to dump toxic dredge in this facility which originally was meant to last for 10 years and then be capped and closed in 1994. The Illinois General Assembly’s legislative intent at the outset was for the land to be turned over to the Chicago Park District for expansion of the adjacent Calumet Park. Indeed, the land ownership legally has now been transferred to the park district. But they are now complying with the City’s plans, via the Chicago Department of Transportation commitment to participate as a cost share partner, to keep the CDF operating at that site for at least two more decades.
Your immediate intervention is called for to ensure this issue is included in potential new legislation to come before City Council regarding the consideration of cumulative effects of pollution in an Environmental Justice community as well as to keep the taxpayers of Chicago from contributing to threats to our water supply.
The CDF sits in the same part of the city that has fought serial polluters such as RMG/General Iron, and other high profile pollution dangers such as manganese and petcoke. In support of Southeast Side organizers, FOTP had written to EPA Administrator Michael Regan to ask his agency to come see the many burdens that the Southeast Side has had to bear on behalf of all of Chicago.
So we are extremely thankful for federal intervention to halt the final permit for RMG/General Iron and request further review on the health impacts of the facility--in combination with other pollutants in the area. In that regard, it is very important to note that Administrator Regan’s letter also specifically noted that the area has a very high level of various environmental hazards, “fine particulate matter, air toxics cancer risk, respiratory hazard, traffic proximity, lead paint, Superfund site proximity, hazardous waste proximity and wastewater discharges.”
We will also be asking Administrator Regan and Illinois legislators to ensure that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency considers the cumulative impacts of the heavy burden of pollution the Southeast Side carries and deny the Army Corp’s renewal for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit when it is filed.
The City’s and the Chicago Park District’s collusion on this expansion without a public vetting process of potential sites outside the 10th Ward in an Environmental Justice Community is an act of environmental racism. Chicago public officials must demand that the Army Corps, the Mayor’s Office, CDOT, and the Chicago Park District explain why they think the 10th Ward should carry this additional water and air pollution burden for the rest of us. We need leadership that works for a real, sustainable solution that neither burdens the 10th Ward nor threatens our water supply.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Policy and Communications Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information or visit www.fotp.org for detailed information about the proposed expansion of the CDF pollution dump.
Email (Chief Sustainability Officer – Angela Tovar)
Subject Line:
Welcome to your new role and urgent need for your attention to the Confined Disposal Facility on the Southeast Side
To:
Chief Sustainability Officer – Angela Tovar, [email protected]
CC:
[email protected]
Chicago City Council Members (emails below)
Email Text:
Dear Ms. Tovar:
We write to welcome you to your new role as Chief Sustainability Officer and to request a meeting with you as soon as possible to bring you up to speed on an urgent matter regarding an Environmental Justice Community on the Southeast Side of Chicago. Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission includes ensuring park lands are equitably distributed and managed across the city to support healthy communities and a healthy environment.
This letter is to request a meeting in follow-up to our meeting with former Acting Chief Sustainability Officer Elise Zelechowski regarding the existing confined disposal facility (“CDF”), constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1984 and which currently sits on Lake Michigan between Calumet and Steelworkers’ Park in the 10th Ward. The group of Southeast Side advocates and Friends of the Parks board and staff who met with her per-COVID-19 were promised follow-up response which never took place.
We understand that as a former resident of the 10th Ward, you are deeply connected to this community and understand the burden that this community carries of being a dumping ground. And we were pleased to see that at this weekend’s public meeting regarding General Iron, you announced a reform agenda. This makes the time even more ripe for our coalition to make sure you understand and can consider in your reform plans the environmental danger inherent in the continued operation of CDF on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Calumet River that is already leaking toxins into the water supply—let alone its expansion. We cannot allow another threat to go unchecked to Southeast Side Environmental Justice Communities.
This letter warrants your immediate attention to this issue as time is running out. On July 17, 2020 the Army Corps of Engineers finalized a Dredge Management Plan and EIS (“Final DMP/EIS”) and Record of Decision for a final comment period that will last until August 17, 2020. There is overwhelming public opposition for yet another environmental threat to the Southeast Side community.
These reasons outline the need for you to take immediate action on this issue:
To reiterate, FOTP adamantly requests that you put this issue at the top of your agenda as the new Chief Sustainability Officer. We look forward to a response with potential meeting times and dates so that we can more thoroughly brief you on this very urgent matter.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
Cc:
Chief Equity Officer Candace Moore
CDOT Commissioner Gia Biaggi
Chicago City Council
Welcome to your new role and urgent need for your attention to the Confined Disposal Facility on the Southeast Side
To:
Chief Sustainability Officer – Angela Tovar, [email protected]
CC:
[email protected]
Chicago City Council Members (emails below)
Email Text:
Dear Ms. Tovar:
We write to welcome you to your new role as Chief Sustainability Officer and to request a meeting with you as soon as possible to bring you up to speed on an urgent matter regarding an Environmental Justice Community on the Southeast Side of Chicago. Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission includes ensuring park lands are equitably distributed and managed across the city to support healthy communities and a healthy environment.
This letter is to request a meeting in follow-up to our meeting with former Acting Chief Sustainability Officer Elise Zelechowski regarding the existing confined disposal facility (“CDF”), constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1984 and which currently sits on Lake Michigan between Calumet and Steelworkers’ Park in the 10th Ward. The group of Southeast Side advocates and Friends of the Parks board and staff who met with her per-COVID-19 were promised follow-up response which never took place.
We understand that as a former resident of the 10th Ward, you are deeply connected to this community and understand the burden that this community carries of being a dumping ground. And we were pleased to see that at this weekend’s public meeting regarding General Iron, you announced a reform agenda. This makes the time even more ripe for our coalition to make sure you understand and can consider in your reform plans the environmental danger inherent in the continued operation of CDF on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Calumet River that is already leaking toxins into the water supply—let alone its expansion. We cannot allow another threat to go unchecked to Southeast Side Environmental Justice Communities.
This letter warrants your immediate attention to this issue as time is running out. On July 17, 2020 the Army Corps of Engineers finalized a Dredge Management Plan and EIS (“Final DMP/EIS”) and Record of Decision for a final comment period that will last until August 17, 2020. There is overwhelming public opposition for yet another environmental threat to the Southeast Side community.
These reasons outline the need for you to take immediate action on this issue:
- The Corp’s proposal for a 25-foot, vertical expansion of the CDF to house an additional million cubic yards of toxic dredge right on Lake Michigan is an egregious attempt at papering over a hazardous facility that has been a threat for years. Currently, landfill expansions in the city of Chicago are banned, but the Army Corps has skirted around this moratorium by not classifying dredge as a “waste”.
- There are a number of toxic contaminants found in the CDF’s mountain of dredge including PCBs, mercury, lead and arsenic. (Arsenic, as you probably know, was recently found in a children’s baseball field in walking-distance from the CDF). Considering the inevitable possibility of violent storm surge, stormwater run-off, and erosion, the CDF is a threat to nearby southside beaches, harbors, fish and wildlife, and drinking water across Chicago and the region.
- The structure of the existing CDF is nearly 40 years old; the effects of climate change on Lake Michigan are only going to exacerbate damage to the facility and as a result cause catastrophic damage to Chicago’s lakeshore.
- There is a high risk of airborne toxics associated with dredge handling, drying and storage that puts homes, businesses, Calumet and Steelworkers’ Park, and future developments at risk.
- Finally, the location of this proposed expansion is on public trust land owned by the Chicago Park District and required by law to be returned to them for use of a public park – yet there has been no city planning process on this issue.
- The Southeast Side of Chicago already has been exposed to a disproportionate number of environmental health threats – including the current threat of General Iron’s relocation to a site near Rowan Park and the high number of industrial plants in that vicinity.
To reiterate, FOTP adamantly requests that you put this issue at the top of your agenda as the new Chief Sustainability Officer. We look forward to a response with potential meeting times and dates so that we can more thoroughly brief you on this very urgent matter.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
Cc:
Chief Equity Officer Candace Moore
CDOT Commissioner Gia Biaggi
Chicago City Council
Email (Environmental Protection and Energy Committee – City Council)
Subject Line: URGENT Environmental Protection Matter in the 10th Ward
To:
Environmental Protection and Energy Committee Members:
CC:
[email protected]
Chicago City Council Members (emails to the right)
Email Text:
Dear Environmental Protection and Energy Committee Members:
I write to make you aware of an extremely urgent matter affecting an already overburdened Environmental Justice Community on the Southeast Side. The issue represents environmental and health risks, about which a broad cross-section of community constituents and regional stakeholders submitted public comment to the Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to redirect this process toward a more suitable outcome for the 10th Ward and all of Chicago. Now your intervention is called for.
Originally brought into this issue because the pollution dump that is the subject of this letter is immediately adjacent to Calumet Park and was scheduled to be closed in 2020 and turned into public parkland, Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission includes ensuring park lands are equitably distributed and managed across the city to support healthy communities and a healthy environment.
The Army Corps of Engineers is attempting to expand and extend the life of a pollution dump right on Lake Michigan at the confluence of the Calumet River. If they are not stopped, they will be further putting residents on the Southeast Side and the entire City of Chicago in danger for the next 25-plus years. This facility, which is already leaching toxins into the water supply per documents that FOTP forced the Army Corps to make public, was constructed by the Corp in 1984 for the purpose of storing highly contaminated toxic dredge. It was meant to close in 1994 and be converted in a public park. But it didn’t close, though the land has already been conveyed to the Chicago Park District for expansion of the adjacent Calumet Park. And for decades the Corp has continued to fill this facility with PCBs, mercury, arsenic and lead right on the lakebed and adjacent to the Calumet River and Calumet Park, with Steelworkers Park within view on the other side of the river.
And now, as of July 17th, 2020, the Army Corp has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and EIS (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. Friends of the Parks calls upon this committee to use its legislative and leadership powers to stop the Army Corps in its tracks and stand up to the Chicago Park District for withholding a lake-front park from the 10th Ward. Under the Lakefront Protection Ordinance and the long-established public trust doctrine, City Council has a responsibility to review and deny any proposal that would misuse public trust land intended to be a city park.
Since early 2019, FOTP has been actively calling for appropriate public vetting of this serious threat. And now, per FOTP’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as of May 2020, the Chicago Department of Transportation has provided the Army Corp with a letter of intent to take on cost-share responsibilities to the tune of $10 million at a time when the City is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources.Additionally, the Chicago Park District has committed to allow this public trust land, which it has the responsibility to steward on behalf of all Chicagoans and Illinoisans, to be utilized at no cost for on-going dumping on this site. There have been no City Council hearings and there has been no Chicago Park District or City-led public process of any kind.
This is not only another attempt at giving the short end of the stick to the 10th Ward and neighboring communities; but considering the increasing frequency and severity of storms contributing to massive lake erosion all along the shoreline, there is a looming threat to the structural stability of this facility. Its failure would put the entire city’s and region’s drinking water at risk in addition to annihilating fish, bird, and other wildlife and their habitats. The current facility is already 40-plus years old and failing to contain toxins; expanding the structure vertically by 25 feet in the direct path of extreme conditions makes no sense. Chicago’s taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibility for maintenance, stabilization, monitoring and toxic releases from this dangerous facility.
It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect.
Chicago public officials must demand that the Mayor’s Office explain its commitment to spend on this issue without a public vetting process to ensure an environmentally safe and modern solution for managing toxic dredge from the Chicago Area Waterways System without dumping it in the 10th Ward. I look forward to seeing this very urgent matter considered by the City Council.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
To:
Environmental Protection and Energy Committee Members:
CC:
[email protected]
Chicago City Council Members (emails to the right)
Email Text:
Dear Environmental Protection and Energy Committee Members:
I write to make you aware of an extremely urgent matter affecting an already overburdened Environmental Justice Community on the Southeast Side. The issue represents environmental and health risks, about which a broad cross-section of community constituents and regional stakeholders submitted public comment to the Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to redirect this process toward a more suitable outcome for the 10th Ward and all of Chicago. Now your intervention is called for.
Originally brought into this issue because the pollution dump that is the subject of this letter is immediately adjacent to Calumet Park and was scheduled to be closed in 2020 and turned into public parkland, Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission includes ensuring park lands are equitably distributed and managed across the city to support healthy communities and a healthy environment.
The Army Corps of Engineers is attempting to expand and extend the life of a pollution dump right on Lake Michigan at the confluence of the Calumet River. If they are not stopped, they will be further putting residents on the Southeast Side and the entire City of Chicago in danger for the next 25-plus years. This facility, which is already leaching toxins into the water supply per documents that FOTP forced the Army Corps to make public, was constructed by the Corp in 1984 for the purpose of storing highly contaminated toxic dredge. It was meant to close in 1994 and be converted in a public park. But it didn’t close, though the land has already been conveyed to the Chicago Park District for expansion of the adjacent Calumet Park. And for decades the Corp has continued to fill this facility with PCBs, mercury, arsenic and lead right on the lakebed and adjacent to the Calumet River and Calumet Park, with Steelworkers Park within view on the other side of the river.
And now, as of July 17th, 2020, the Army Corp has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and EIS (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. Friends of the Parks calls upon this committee to use its legislative and leadership powers to stop the Army Corps in its tracks and stand up to the Chicago Park District for withholding a lake-front park from the 10th Ward. Under the Lakefront Protection Ordinance and the long-established public trust doctrine, City Council has a responsibility to review and deny any proposal that would misuse public trust land intended to be a city park.
Since early 2019, FOTP has been actively calling for appropriate public vetting of this serious threat. And now, per FOTP’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as of May 2020, the Chicago Department of Transportation has provided the Army Corp with a letter of intent to take on cost-share responsibilities to the tune of $10 million at a time when the City is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources.Additionally, the Chicago Park District has committed to allow this public trust land, which it has the responsibility to steward on behalf of all Chicagoans and Illinoisans, to be utilized at no cost for on-going dumping on this site. There have been no City Council hearings and there has been no Chicago Park District or City-led public process of any kind.
This is not only another attempt at giving the short end of the stick to the 10th Ward and neighboring communities; but considering the increasing frequency and severity of storms contributing to massive lake erosion all along the shoreline, there is a looming threat to the structural stability of this facility. Its failure would put the entire city’s and region’s drinking water at risk in addition to annihilating fish, bird, and other wildlife and their habitats. The current facility is already 40-plus years old and failing to contain toxins; expanding the structure vertically by 25 feet in the direct path of extreme conditions makes no sense. Chicago’s taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibility for maintenance, stabilization, monitoring and toxic releases from this dangerous facility.
It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect.
Chicago public officials must demand that the Mayor’s Office explain its commitment to spend on this issue without a public vetting process to ensure an environmentally safe and modern solution for managing toxic dredge from the Chicago Area Waterways System without dumping it in the 10th Ward. I look forward to seeing this very urgent matter considered by the City Council.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
Email (Lt. Gov. Stratton & State Officials)
|
Subject Line: URGENT environmental threat to the Chicago Waterways System and the 10th Ward Environmental Justice Community in Chicago
To: Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton – [email protected] Email Text: Dear Lt. Gov. Stratton, In light of your role as the Chair of the Rivers of Illinois Coordinating Council, advising and making recommendations to the governor on projects related to rivers and encouraging communities to develop environmentally sustainable watershed management, I write to make you aware of an extremely urgent matter affecting an already overburdened Environmental Justice Community on Chicago’s Southeast Side, at the confluence of the Calumet River and Lake Michigan. The issue represents significant environmental and health risks, about which a broad cross-section of community constituents and regional stakeholders submitted public comment to the Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to redirect this process toward a more suitable outcome for the 10th Ward, all of Chicago, and the Great Lakes region. Now your intervention is called for. Originally brought into this issue because the pollution dump that is the subject of this letter is immediately adjacent to Calumet Park and was scheduled to be closed in 2020 and turned into public parkland, Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to promoting healthy parks in the City of Chicago. Our mission includes ensuring park lands are equitably distributed and managed across the city to support healthy communities and a healthy environment. The Army Corps of Engineers is attempting to expand and extend the life of a pollution dump right on Lake Michigan at the confluence of the Calumet River. If they are not stopped, they will be further putting residents on the Southeast Side and the entire Chicago region in danger for the next 25-plus years. This facility, which is already leaching toxins into the water supply per documents that FOTP forced the Army Corps to make public, was constructed by the Corp in 1984 for the purpose of storing highly contaminated toxic dredge. And now, as of July 17th, 2020, the Army Corp has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and EIS (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. Friends of the Parks adamantly requests that you use your executive powers to take this issue on as the Chair of the Rivers of Illinois Coordinating Council and urge Governor Pritzker, Illinois General Assembly, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to stop the Army Corps in its tracks as it seeks to prolong the Chicago Waterways System’s risk for contamination. It is now absolutely necessary that you use your executive powers to stop this attempt because the State of Illinois did not intend for the purpose of this land to be debated. In fact, the Illinois General Assembly made that decision in 1994 when they legislated the property as public trust land and transferred ownership to the Chicago Park District for the purposes of being converted into a public park. But the Chicago Park District has not fulfilled their end of the deal, even though the land has already been conveyed to them for expansion of the adjacent Calumet Park. The life of this pollution dump has been repeatedly extended beyond what the Illinois General Assembly authorized. And the Chicago Park District has yet again signed on as a cost-share partner to the Army Corp plan to further extend the life of this hazardous facility filled with PCBs, mercury, arsenic and lead right on the lakebed and adjacent to the Calumet River and Calumet Park, with Steelworkers Park within view on the other side of the river. Since early 2019, FOTP has been actively calling for appropriate public vetting of this serious threat. But that process did not occur at the city level, and now time is running out. Per FOTP’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as of May 2020, the Chicago Department of Transportation has provided the Army Corp with a letter of intent to take on cost-share responsibilities to the tune of $10 million at a time when our government is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources. This is not only another attempt at giving the short end of the stick to the 10th Ward and neighboring communities; but considering the increasing frequency and severity of storms contributing to massive lake erosion all along the shoreline, there is a looming threat to the structural stability of this facility. Its failure would put the entire region’s drinking water at risk in addition to annihilating fish, bird, and other wildlife and their habitats. The current facility is already 40-plus years old and failing to contain toxins; expanding the structure vertically by 25 feet in the direct path of extreme conditions makes no sense. Your constituents and Illinois taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibility for maintenance, stabilization, monitoring and toxic releases from this dangerous facility. It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. The recent approval General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect. I implore you to take this urgent environmental threat seriously and coordinate with Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency regarding the dire effects of environmental racism and contaminated waterways to Southeast Side communities if the Army Corps is not stopped. The Corps has used and abused the communities’ parkland and the treasured lakefront for long enough. Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information. Sincerely, Your name Your ward/district/municipality of residence |
Vertical Divider
CC:
[email protected] & Illinois Representatives from Energy & Environment Committee: Rep. Ann Williams – [email protected] Rep. Robyn Gabel – [email protected] Rep. David A. Welter – [email protected] Rep. Carol Ammons – [email protected] Rep. Darren Bailey – [email protected] Rep. Tim Butler – [email protected] Rep. Dan Caulkins – [email protected] Rep. William Davis – [email protected] Rep. Daniel Didech – [email protected] Rep. Mary Edly-Allen – [email protected] Rep. Sonya M. Harper – [email protected] Rep. Barbara Hernandez – [email protected] Rep. Frances Ann Hurley – [email protected] Rep. Lindsey LaPointe – [email protected] Rep. Theresa Mah – [email protected] Rep. Michael T. Marron – [email protected] Rep. Joyce Mason – [email protected] Rep. Deanne Mazzochi – [email protected] Rep. Charles Meier – [email protected] Rep. Chris Miller – [email protected] Rep. Anna Moeller – [email protected] Rep. Bob Morgan – [email protected] Rep. Thomas Morrison – [email protected] Rep. Michelle Mussman – [email protected] Rep. Nathan Reitz – [email protected] Rep. Dave Severin – [email protected] Rep. Nicholas K. Smith – [email protected] Rep. Andrea Thapedi – [email protected] Rep. Dan Ugaste – [email protected] Rep. Lawrence Walsh, Jr. – [email protected] Rep. Keith R. Wheeler – [email protected] Illinois Senators from Environment and Conservation Committee: Sen. Melinda Bush – [email protected] Sen. David Koehler – [email protected] Sen. Sara Feigenholtz – [email protected] Sen. Laura Fine – [email protected] Sen. Pat McGuire – [email protected] Sen. Julie A. Morrison –[email protected] Sen. Heather A. Steans – [email protected] Sen. Jim Oberweis – [email protected] Sen. Jason Plummer – [email protected] Sen. Dave Syverson – [email protected] IL State officials representing the district the CDF is in: Sen. Robert Peters – [email protected] Rep. Curtis Tarver – [email protected] |
Email (Illinois Congresspeople)
Subject Line: URGENT environmental threat to the Chicago Waterways System and the 10th Ward Environmental Justice Community in Chicago
To:
Illinois Congresspeople (Copy and paste the letter below and scroll to the bottom of the page to see a list of links for each official’s contact form)
I am writing to request your immediate intervention to an attempt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the current Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) that sits on land at the confluence of the Calumet River and Lake Michigan. It holds millions of tons of contaminated dredge right on the lakeshore and between two recreational parks, Calumet and Steelworkers, both of which Southeast Side Chicago residents utilize. Your necessary involvement would protect Environmental Justice Communities at a time when the current administration is rolling back hundreds of environmental protections and put public trust land back into the hands of Illinoisans and out of the hands of polluters.
This is extremely urgent because the Army Corps has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. For the past several years, Southeast Side community groups and partners have adamantly opposed this decision and encouraged the Army Corps to find another place to store toxic pollutants.
But the Army Corps has made little effort to go out of their way to find an alternative location to store hazardous materials including PCBs, mercury, arsenic and lead right on the lakebed and instead has proposed expanding the already 40-year old structure, which is in the direct path of extreme conditions, vertically for another 25-plus years, although the existing structure was scheduled to close in 2022.
Per Friends of the Parks’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as of May 2020, the Chicago Department of Transportation has provided the Army Corp with a letter of intent to take on cost share responsibilities to the tune of $10 million at a time when our government is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources. Ifey are not stopped, Illinois taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibility for maintenance, stabilization, and monitoring of toxic releases from the dangerous facility.
It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. The recent approval General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect.
We ask your leadership to consider these extremely concerning findings detailed below and work with community groups to find an environmentally just solution to store toxic contaminants far from where our neighbors play and swim:
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
To:
Illinois Congresspeople (Copy and paste the letter below and scroll to the bottom of the page to see a list of links for each official’s contact form)
I am writing to request your immediate intervention to an attempt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the current Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) that sits on land at the confluence of the Calumet River and Lake Michigan. It holds millions of tons of contaminated dredge right on the lakeshore and between two recreational parks, Calumet and Steelworkers, both of which Southeast Side Chicago residents utilize. Your necessary involvement would protect Environmental Justice Communities at a time when the current administration is rolling back hundreds of environmental protections and put public trust land back into the hands of Illinoisans and out of the hands of polluters.
This is extremely urgent because the Army Corps has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. For the past several years, Southeast Side community groups and partners have adamantly opposed this decision and encouraged the Army Corps to find another place to store toxic pollutants.
But the Army Corps has made little effort to go out of their way to find an alternative location to store hazardous materials including PCBs, mercury, arsenic and lead right on the lakebed and instead has proposed expanding the already 40-year old structure, which is in the direct path of extreme conditions, vertically for another 25-plus years, although the existing structure was scheduled to close in 2022.
Per Friends of the Parks’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, as of May 2020, the Chicago Department of Transportation has provided the Army Corp with a letter of intent to take on cost share responsibilities to the tune of $10 million at a time when our government is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources. Ifey are not stopped, Illinois taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibility for maintenance, stabilization, and monitoring of toxic releases from the dangerous facility.
It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. The recent approval General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect.
We ask your leadership to consider these extremely concerning findings detailed below and work with community groups to find an environmentally just solution to store toxic contaminants far from where our neighbors play and swim:
- The current facility is already failing to contain toxins, and expanding the structure further makes no sense and ignores legitimate calls for lakefront erosion protections in response to rising lake levels and intensifying storm damage. Discussions are already taking place at the local level to push for lakefront erosion protections, and it’s completely irresponsible to allow his facility to expand on the lakebed with increasing knowledge of the effects of climate change.
- The existing structure of this facility is 40-plus years old and designed to be maintained for 20 years of storm effects and lake elevation. The entire Chicago Waterways System is at risk for catastrophic contamination further complicated by the increasing frequency and severity of storms. It’s a matter of if, not when, this structure will begin to deteriorate; and when it does the entire region’s drinking water will be at risk in addition to annihilating fish, birds, and other wildlife and their habitats.
- Prior to the Corps intention to expand the facility, the existing deal would have turned the land over to the Chicago Park District for the purpose of developing a 30-acre lakefront park connected to the existing Calumet Park. Eliminating this toxic pollution site from the Southeast Side lakefront provides the opportunity to transform this environmentally degraded area into a robust community with a fully-accessible, connected, public park space along the lakefront and riverfront.
- Additionally, Friends of the Parks has been advocating for the completion of more nearby lakefront parkland at the former USX steel mill site adjacent to what is now Steelworkers Park, across the river from the CDF. The community has a grand vision for a mixed-use development there that would further contribute to the vision to complete Chicago’s connected lakefront path system that is the jewel of the city while also providing massive economic development and renewal for the Southeast Side. To allow the Army Corps to expand their pollution dump within sight of this parcel impedes the full redevelopment of a healthy, sustainable community on this long-disregarded stretch of lakefront.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
Email (Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Park District Officials)
Subject Line: URGENT environmental threat to 10th Ward and Chicago Waterways System
To:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot
CC:
[email protected]
City of Chicago and Chicago Park District officials (scroll to the bottom for links to contact information and emails)
Dear Mayor Lightfoot:
On behalf of Friends of the Parks (FOTP), I am writing to urge your administration to intervene immediately on an extremely urgent matter regarding another attempt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the current Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) that sits on land at the confluence of the Calumet River and Lake Michigan. It currently holds millions of tons of contaminated dredge right on the lakeshore and between two recreational parks, Calumet and Steelworkers, both of which Southeast Side Chicago residents utilize. The Army Corps has already extended the life of this facility which was scheduled to be closed by 2022 and made into parkland – but now, the Corps is putting the 10th Ward and Environmental Justice Communities at risk for continued exposure to toxic dredge and pollutants.
This is extremely time-sensitive because the Army Corps has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. Recent FOTP Freedom of Information Act requests have revealed that the City Department of Transportation provided the Corps with a Letter of Intent to take on long-term cost sharing liabilities in May 2020. Additional FOIA requests have informed FOTP that the Chicago Park District also provided a letter of intent in May 2020 in which they admitted that they “expressed interest in the Army Corps pursing another region rather than the existing CDF at Iroquois Landing as that site was intended to be turned into a lakefront park.” These letters reveal that the cities’ cost responsibilities ring in at $10 million at a time when our government is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources. If the Mayor’s office does not halt the subsidizing of this risky proposal, Chicago taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibilities for maintenance, stabilization, and monitoring of toxic releases from the dangerous facility.
For the past several years, Southeast Side community groups and partners have adamantly opposed this decision and encouraged the Army Corps to pursue a city-led planning process to find another place to store toxic pollutants. But there have been no City Council hearings or a Chicago Park District or City-led public process of any kind to mediate legitimate health and environmental impact concerns with Environmental Justice Communities on the Southeast Side. Now we are running out of time, but you still have an opportunity to put a stop to this – the letters of intent are not binding, and the Chicago Park District Board has not voted to extend the life of this pollution dump for another 25 years.
It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. The recent approval General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect.
We ask the Lightfoot Administration to consider these extremely concerning findings detailed below and work with community groups to find an environmentally just solution to store toxic contaminants far from where our neighbors play and swim:
I ask that the Lightfoot Administration make it clear that the City will not participate in the Corps’ current proposal and will lead a thorough public vetting of the risks, burdens, equities and costs to residents and taxpayers before the City allows dredge material to be disposed of on the Lake Michigan shore or anywhere else in the 10th Ward.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
CC:
Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar
Michael Kelly, General Superintendent & CEO of the Chicago Park District (CPD)
Pat Levar, Chief Operating Officer, CPD
Steve Lux, Chief Financial Officer, CPD
Avis LaVelle, President, CPD Board
David A. Helfand, Vice President, CPD Board
Donald J. Edwards, CPD Board
Tim King, CPD Board
Martin Laird Koldyke, CPD Board
Jose M. Muñoz, CPD Board
Ashley Hemphill Netzky, CPD Board
To:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot
CC:
[email protected]
City of Chicago and Chicago Park District officials (scroll to the bottom for links to contact information and emails)
Dear Mayor Lightfoot:
On behalf of Friends of the Parks (FOTP), I am writing to urge your administration to intervene immediately on an extremely urgent matter regarding another attempt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the current Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) that sits on land at the confluence of the Calumet River and Lake Michigan. It currently holds millions of tons of contaminated dredge right on the lakeshore and between two recreational parks, Calumet and Steelworkers, both of which Southeast Side Chicago residents utilize. The Army Corps has already extended the life of this facility which was scheduled to be closed by 2022 and made into parkland – but now, the Corps is putting the 10th Ward and Environmental Justice Communities at risk for continued exposure to toxic dredge and pollutants.
This is extremely time-sensitive because the Army Corps has released their Final Dredge Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (“Final DMP/EIS”) and draft Record of Decision for a final comment period until August 17, 2020. Recent FOTP Freedom of Information Act requests have revealed that the City Department of Transportation provided the Corps with a Letter of Intent to take on long-term cost sharing liabilities in May 2020. Additional FOIA requests have informed FOTP that the Chicago Park District also provided a letter of intent in May 2020 in which they admitted that they “expressed interest in the Army Corps pursing another region rather than the existing CDF at Iroquois Landing as that site was intended to be turned into a lakefront park.” These letters reveal that the cities’ cost responsibilities ring in at $10 million at a time when our government is challenged with extremely difficult decisions about how to utilize limited public resources. If the Mayor’s office does not halt the subsidizing of this risky proposal, Chicago taxpayers will be left holding the fiscal responsibilities for maintenance, stabilization, and monitoring of toxic releases from the dangerous facility.
For the past several years, Southeast Side community groups and partners have adamantly opposed this decision and encouraged the Army Corps to pursue a city-led planning process to find another place to store toxic pollutants. But there have been no City Council hearings or a Chicago Park District or City-led public process of any kind to mediate legitimate health and environmental impact concerns with Environmental Justice Communities on the Southeast Side. Now we are running out of time, but you still have an opportunity to put a stop to this – the letters of intent are not binding, and the Chicago Park District Board has not voted to extend the life of this pollution dump for another 25 years.
It is no secret that the Southeast Side has been Chicago’s dumping ground, and voices are clamoring loudly for the end to environmental injustice there. The recent approval General Iron is poised to move into the area near Rowan Park despite vocal opposition, there have been previous high-profile battles regarding petcoke and manganese in the vicinity, and arsenic was recently found in a children’s’ baseball field in walking distance from the CDF. Yet still, the Army Corp claims in their EIS that “no minority or low-income populations would be exposed to disproportionately high adverse human health impacts or environmental effects.” Holding public parkland hostage to house toxic dredge is undoubtedly an adverse health and environmental effect.
We ask the Lightfoot Administration to consider these extremely concerning findings detailed below and work with community groups to find an environmentally just solution to store toxic contaminants far from where our neighbors play and swim:
- The current facility is already failing to contain toxins, including PCBs, mercury, arsenic and lead, and expanding the structure further makes no sense and ignores legitimate calls for lakefront erosion protections in response to rising lake levels and intensifying storm damage. Discussions are already taking place at the local level to push for lakefront erosion protections, and it’s completely irresponsible to allow this facility to expand on the lakebed with increasing knowledge of the effects of climate change.
- The existing structure of this facility is 40-plus years old and designed to be maintained for 20 years of storm effects and lake elevation. The entire Chicago Waterways System is at risk for catastrophic contamination further complicated by the increasing frequency and severity of storms. It’s a matter of if, not when, this structure will begin to deteriorate; and when it does the entire region’s drinking water will be at risk in addition to annihilating fish, birds, and other wildlife and their habitats.
- Prior to the Corps intention to expand the facility, the existing deal would have turned the land over to the Chicago Park District for the purpose of developing a 30-acre lakefront park connected to the existing Calumet Park. Airborne toxics from this mound and the associated dredge handling, drying and storage operations is a pollution hazard to any developments in the CDFs’ vicinity. Eliminating this toxic pollution site from the Southeast Side lakefront provides the opportunity to transform this environmentally degraded area into a robust community with a fully accessible, connected, public park space along the lakefront and riverfront.
- Additionally, Friends of the Parks has been advocating for the completion of more nearby lakefront parkland at the former USX steel mill site adjacent to what is now Steelworkers Park, across the river from the CDF. The community has a grand vision for a mixed-use development there that would further contribute to the vision to complete Chicago’s connected lakefront path system that is the jewel of the city while also providing massive economic development and renewal for the Southeast Side. To allow the Army Corps to expand their pollution dump within sight of this parcel impedes the full redevelopment of a healthy, sustainable community on this long-disregarded stretch of lakefront.
I ask that the Lightfoot Administration make it clear that the City will not participate in the Corps’ current proposal and will lead a thorough public vetting of the risks, burdens, equities and costs to residents and taxpayers before the City allows dredge material to be disposed of on the Lake Michigan shore or anywhere else in the 10th Ward.
Friends of the Parks is available at your convenience to discuss further or answer any questions you may have. Please contact Public Policy Associate Abigail Johnston at [email protected] for more information.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your ward/district/municipality of residence
CC:
Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar
Michael Kelly, General Superintendent & CEO of the Chicago Park District (CPD)
Pat Levar, Chief Operating Officer, CPD
Steve Lux, Chief Financial Officer, CPD
Avis LaVelle, President, CPD Board
David A. Helfand, Vice President, CPD Board
Donald J. Edwards, CPD Board
Tim King, CPD Board
Martin Laird Koldyke, CPD Board
Jose M. Muñoz, CPD Board
Ashley Hemphill Netzky, CPD Board
Contact Information
Illinois
Governor J.B. Pritzker: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/contactus/Pages/VoiceAnOpinion.aspx Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton: [email protected]
25th District Rep. Curtis Tarver: [email protected]
13th District Senator Robert Peters: [email protected]
Illinois General Assembly: http://www.ilga.gov/
ILEPA
John J. Kim, Director General: [email protected]
Barb Lieberoff: [email protected]
Environmental Justice Coordinator, Chris Pressnall: [email protected]
City of Chicago
Mayor Lori Lightfoot: [email protected]
Chief Sustainability Officer, Angela Tovar: [email protected]
City Council: https://chicago.legistar.com/People.aspx, https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdot.html
Gia Biagi – Commissioner Chicago Department of Transportation:[email protected]
Michael Kelly, CEO, Chicago Park District: [email protected]
Pat Levar, Chief Operating Officer, Chicago Park District: [email protected]
Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners: [email protected]
City Council Environmental and Energy Committee
Alderman Burke, [email protected]
Alderman Cappleman, [email protected]
Alderman Cardenas, [email protected]
Alderman Cardona, Jr., [email protected]
Alderman Dowell, [email protected]
Alderman Hadden, [email protected]
Alderman Hopkins, [email protected]
Alderman La Spata, [email protected]
Alderman Martin, [email protected]
Alderman Nugent, [email protected]
Alderman Reilly, [email protected]
Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez, [email protected]
Alderman Smith, [email protected]
Alderman Taylor, [email protected]
Alderman Waguespack, [email protected]
Federal
Congresswoman Robin Kelly: https://robinkelly.house.gov/contact
Senator R. Durbin: https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/email
Senator T. Duckworth: https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/connect/email-tammy
Congressman Chuy Garcia: https://chuygarcia.house.gov/contact/email-me
Congressman Bobby Rush: https://rush.house.gov/contact/legislative-issues
Congressman Danny Davis: https://davis.house.gov/email-me/
Congressman Mike Quigley: https://quigleyforms.house.gov/forms/writeyourrep/
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky: https://schakowsky.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me
Congressman Brad Schneider: https://schneider.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood:https://underwood.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me
Governor J.B. Pritzker: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/contactus/Pages/VoiceAnOpinion.aspx Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton: [email protected]
25th District Rep. Curtis Tarver: [email protected]
13th District Senator Robert Peters: [email protected]
Illinois General Assembly: http://www.ilga.gov/
ILEPA
John J. Kim, Director General: [email protected]
Barb Lieberoff: [email protected]
Environmental Justice Coordinator, Chris Pressnall: [email protected]
City of Chicago
Mayor Lori Lightfoot: [email protected]
Chief Sustainability Officer, Angela Tovar: [email protected]
City Council: https://chicago.legistar.com/People.aspx, https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdot.html
Gia Biagi – Commissioner Chicago Department of Transportation:[email protected]
Michael Kelly, CEO, Chicago Park District: [email protected]
Pat Levar, Chief Operating Officer, Chicago Park District: [email protected]
Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners: [email protected]
City Council Environmental and Energy Committee
Alderman Burke, [email protected]
Alderman Cappleman, [email protected]
Alderman Cardenas, [email protected]
Alderman Cardona, Jr., [email protected]
Alderman Dowell, [email protected]
Alderman Hadden, [email protected]
Alderman Hopkins, [email protected]
Alderman La Spata, [email protected]
Alderman Martin, [email protected]
Alderman Nugent, [email protected]
Alderman Reilly, [email protected]
Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez, [email protected]
Alderman Smith, [email protected]
Alderman Taylor, [email protected]
Alderman Waguespack, [email protected]
Federal
Congresswoman Robin Kelly: https://robinkelly.house.gov/contact
Senator R. Durbin: https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/email
Senator T. Duckworth: https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/connect/email-tammy
Congressman Chuy Garcia: https://chuygarcia.house.gov/contact/email-me
Congressman Bobby Rush: https://rush.house.gov/contact/legislative-issues
Congressman Danny Davis: https://davis.house.gov/email-me/
Congressman Mike Quigley: https://quigleyforms.house.gov/forms/writeyourrep/
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky: https://schakowsky.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me
Congressman Brad Schneider: https://schneider.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood:https://underwood.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me
