By: EJ News Today | December 29, 2022
A proposed warehouse development has residents from Little Village – a neighborhood in Chicago – concerned about worsening air pollution. The area, known as “Mexico of the Midwest,” is already heavily industrialized with high rates of asthma.
Listen to this clip from Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons – WBEZ Chicago (NPR) – where they go into this story.
In July of 2021, the developer “opened a Target distribution center on the site of the botched implosion of a coal plant that sent smoke and particulate matter in the air during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic. Community activists opposed the opening of this warehouse, fearing it would bring more diesel trucks and air pollution into an already industrial area with high rates of asthma. Reset learns what this will mean for Little Village residents.”
In recent years, the siting of warehouses and storage facilities servicing e-commerce have come under scrutiny for environmental justice concerns. Specifically, those facilities have the ability to worsen air pollution in EJ areas due to increase truck traffic and significant truck idling.
This is a story worth following for environmental justice concerns and as an example of environmental injustice.
