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

SUPPORT SMALL FARMS

WE SUPPORT SMALL FARMS AND HOPE  YOU DO TOO!  YOU CAN DO SO THIS SATURDAY BY BUYING AT BEVERLY UNITARIAN CHURCH'S INDOOR FARMERS MARKET.

SATURDAY MARCH 31, 2012

BEVERLY UNITARIAN CHURCH

(The Castle)

10244 S Longwood Drive

Chicago, IL 60643

9:00 am - 1:00 pm

FARMERS AND VENDORS AT THIS WEEK'S MARKET:

BREAD FROM THE HEART

DENNANNE FARM

FAITH'S FARM

FRATERNITE NOTRE DAME

HERBALLY YOURS

KINKOONA FARM

NATURAL BEAUTY

RIVER VALLEY RANCH

SCOTHCH HILL FARM

TOMATO MOUNTAIN

URBAN CANOPY

VIDENOVICH FARM