FACT FINDING MISSION

Because of our opposition to development projects like Leucadia’s on the Southside, we are often asked, “What would you be agreeable to?”  Our answer,  “ green sustainable industries that: don’t negatively impact the community,  can provide descent paying jobs, are attractive and enhance the neighborhood .”  Followed by, “ where are you going to get something like that?"  Last Tuesday,  SETF set out to find out the answer. 

With a few members in tow, we boarded the trolley and headed to 45^th and Racine to see the Platnium LEED Certified Testa Produce Facility.  Down the Dan Ryan we went aboard Molly, South Chicago's Green Trolley, and with the view flaps rolled up, the ride was both noisy and thrilling.  Huge trucks whizzed past us, so close that if we stuck our hands out – well you get the picture. 

SETF arrives via the South Chicago Chamber's Trolley

765,085 Gallon External Retention Pond sits at the entrance of the facility.  Testa stands out like a "green thumb" among the many traditional industries in the area.  A traditional plant that renders animal fat (complete with odors) can be seen in
the background.

SETF Members gather in front of building taking in all of the green intiatives.

First free standing wind turbine in Chicago.

Each blade is 70 feet long.  It's shadow during March and September can stretch almost a mile radius.
It generates 880,000 KW/hrs per year offsetting about 80 homes worth of energy.

At the site, Angela our tour guide greeted us with a friendly smile and told us a little about her time with Testa. She immediately launched to an explanation of how Testa was a 100 year old company and what made Testa a LEED Certified facility.

Members asking questions on second floor of building.  The floor to ceiling glass windows will eventually be covered by a trellis of vines.

Draught resistant vegetation covers 50% of roof, releases oxygen for clearn air, insulates the building decreasing

heat waste emissions and lengthens the replacement time of the roof.

 A roof top deck with a view of our beautiful downtown skyline  is available to their employees.

Angela points all all the unique green features of their roof like the rows of solar panels.

 SETF gets a view of the warehouse portion from the working offices.

 5000 gallon internal cistern collects filtered rainwater for non-potable uses.  Typically provides all water for flushing toilets.  Water efficiency leads to over 40% of building's water demand.

An  Eco friendly Ammonia Glycol refrigeration system keeps produce cold.

 Group gathers in lobby for departure, asking questions to the very last mintue.

It was hard to imagine that an attractive facility like Testa stood on the ground that was once an assulting industry like the stockyards.   At the conclusion of the tour, we felt assured that businesses could be greener, that brownfields could indeed be developed in a more sustainable, attractive way, and that we now had to find a way to help that happen. 

 

Exposing the Grave Dangers of Life in an Oil Refinery Zone | | AlterNet

Exposing the Grave Dangers of Life in an Oil Refinery Zone | | AlterNet

Southeast Enviornmental Task Force Rallies with EJ Alliance

Hi again from John. I was with the taskforce again on Tuesday July 10^th for a rally to veto the Leucadia Bill. SETF was there to deliver over 11 thousand petitions from the residents of the Southeast Side to Governor Quinn’s representatives at the Thompson Center. Leucadia’s Coal Gasification Plant plans are being touted as “clean coal” but residents of the Calumet Region know firsthand that coal is a dirty business. Coal Gasification takes coal and a petroleum coke (a byproduct of oil refineries) and combines them under extreme pressure and temperatures to create synthetic natural gas. Hauling and storage of the raw materials produces particulates linked to Asthma rates and other health problems, not to mention soil quality and wildlife issues. The Southeast Side is the home to numerous protected and endangered bird species that make their nesting and migratory homes there, including a pair of bald eagles. Adding another dirty industry to the region would only compound the scarring. Leucadia wants the state to legislate the utility companies to buy their syngas at a fixed price for 30 years and force the consumer to use this product without even the option of using traditional natural gas.  They also want consumers and taxpayers to fund the almost $4 billion needed to build the plant.
John Rossi

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What Better Way to Spend a Saturday Afternoon

Saturday was the first time I took a tour with The Southeast Environmental Task Force. We rode a coach bus from the Chicago Cultural Center at 10am to check out the Energy and Industrial Areas in Chicago’s South Side. Making our way through Pilsen we stopped at a coal fired power plant and from there went to the Testa Produce facilities in the Stockyards. Personally I’d much rather see the giant wind turbine Testa owns spinning on a summer day then have to breathe in what comes out of those smokestacks, as most of those residents of the area have to do on a daily basis.

We moved on to West Pullman to City Solar, it’s the largest urban solar power generating facility in the country. The cool thing about the site is that it makes use of former Industrial property deemed that has been polluted. They call these lands ‘brownfields’ and developers are required to remediate these properties based on what they plan on reusing them.

The rest of the tour focused on the Calumet Region. Waste Management has a methane turbine generating electricity that a representative gave us a tour of. As you can probably guess the gas is a by-product of the rotting contents of their landfill. Dumps used to burn it off into the air with no benefit at all. Inside it looked like a jet engine housed in a very smelly garage. The site is closed to new dumping but the company is fighting to change that. SETF and other groups are already opposing that in their community.

Lunch was great; they sat us all down at La Hacienda restaurant in the Slag Valley neighborhood. We got to talk, network, and exchange quick little life stories. It’s a social as well as educational tour. I met people who owned their own green business, politicians, and students. So much is packed into this four-hour tour.  Our guide Tom is a board member of SETF. He’s funny and pretty knowledgeable on the neighborhoods and history of the region too. Crossing the border into Indiana, the tour included the BP refinery as part of the story of where our energy comes from. We drove through the Southeast Side which is dotted with brownfields from old steel industry, coal stockpiles, and abandoned grain silos. The community is zoned for heavy industry so they are trying to balance the need for employment, energy demands, and quality of the environment-- all things for a balanced and healthy life. This tour gave me a snapshot of life in these neighborhoods as well the variety of energy technologies.

Tom Shepherd starts the group off with basic information about SETF

Testa Produce is LEED Platinum Certified

Excelon Urban Solar Farm

Rows and Rows of Solar Panels

Tom shares facts about the Solar Farm.

Tour group inside Waste Management's landfill gas to electricity facility.

Waste Management's Methane to Electric Generator

Tim, a WM staffer explains the process of converting landfill gas to electricity.

Mountains of coal stored for further transport.

Future site of the proposed Leucadia coal gasification platn.  A stack from the coke ovens still stands.

Tom points out all the industries located on the River and how they impact the environment.

SETF and the Southeast Chicago Historical Society Collaborate on an Industrial Tour

Rod Sellers of SCHS and Tom Shepherd of SETF will host an Industrial Tour of Chicago's Southeast side.

Saturday, June 30, 2012
10:00 A.M.- 12:00 PM
cost:  $20.00 per person
Southeast Chicago's Historical Museum
Calumet Park's Field House
9801 Avenue G, Chicago 60617

Payment and registration in advance is required.  A PayPal feature is supplied below for your convenience.

Call 773-646-05436 for more information.

EJ ALLIANCE HAS FACEBOOK PAGE

Stop by the Environmental Justice Alliance's Facebook page to catch up with current information regarding the landfill issue and the opposition to the Leucadia Coal Gasification plant.

Like us on our Facebook page.

After thirty years, we are still saying, "NO DUMPS, NO DEALS"

After 30 years of organized opposition to landfilling on the Southside, we are once again faced with the threat.  On April 26, 100 people gathered at the community meeting sponsored by the Environmental Justice Alliance of Greater Southeast Chicago to hear about the attempt to continue landfilling in South Chicago.  SETF presented historical information about landfilling and all of the opposition that led to the current 20 Year Moratorium.  Alderman Pope provided facts about Alderman Beale's proposal to lift the Moratorium after which  Rick Taylor of the City's Legal Department provided details about Land and Lake's current law suit to disconnect from the City of Chicago in order to continue landfilling on their property.  Caty Bautista wrapped up the meeting with a request for the audience to have 5 postcards filled out by family and friends to let our City Council know that we oppose landfilling on the Southside.

You can read about the meeting here:

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/chicago/landfill-fight-unites-the-activists-splits-the-aldermen/article_f9632c8f-a735-55a5-8f23-f7c8cb43ffa8.html