Michael Hawthorne – Page 19

After the state shut down Sterigenics' Willowbrook plant, average levels of ethylene oxide were at least 50 percent lower at each of the 10 monitors set up by the EPA, agency documents show.

Air testing after Sterigenics was shut down shows ‘rapid drop’ in cancer-causing gas in Willowbrook, EPA official says

May 23, 2019 at 1:53 a.m.

After collecting air samples for three months, federal inspectors had planned to wrap up their study of cancer-causing ethylene oxide in west suburban neighborhoods near Sterigenics. But when Gov. J.B....

Amid a public outcry, Gov. J.B. Pritzker directed the Illinois EPA on Feb. 15 to block the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook, shown in September 2018, from using ethylene oxide.

Highest levels of cancer-causing gas found in communities near Sterigenics since U.S. EPA began testing

May 23, 2019 at 1:50 a.m.

During the month before Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration shuttered Sterigenics in Willowbrook, air monitors recorded the highest levels of ethylene oxide in nearby residential neighborhoods since federal inspectors began testing...

Medline Industries in Waukegan on Sept. 28, 2018.

Lake County residents push Trump, Pritzker EPAs for protection from same cancer-causing gas that shut down Sterigenics

May 23, 2019 at 1:47 a.m.

Months of community organizing, pleading and haranguing paid off last week when Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration banned Sterigenics from using cancer-causing ethylene oxide gas at its sterilization plant in west...

People protesting Sterigenics hold signs and wave at passing cars at the corner of Spring Road and Commerce Drive Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018, in Oak Brook.

Alarmed by cancer-causing ethylene oxide pollution, Gov. J.B. Pritzker orders shutdown of Sterigenics in Willowbrook

May 23, 2019 at 1:46 a.m.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration on Friday banned Sterigenics from using ethylene oxide at its Willowbrook sterilization plant, responding to an intense public outcry about toxic air pollution that left surrounding...

Jeff Myers, 69, left, and neighbor Steve Krajnik, 80, talk in Hammond's Robertsdale neighborhood on May 1, 2018.

EPA finds another toxic metal in the air in Whiting, Hammond

May 23, 2019 at 1:45 a.m.

Brain-damaging lead isn’t the only toxic metal blowing into contaminated neighborhoods in Hammond and Whiting, according to a new federal report that blames a northwest Indiana scrap processor already accused...

People protesting Sterigenics hold signs at the corner of Spring Road and Commerce Drive on Dec. 15, 2018, in Oak Brook.

Trump EPA confirms Sterigenics is emitting alarming levels of cancer-causing gas in Willowbrook but still won’t take action

May 23, 2019 at 1:44 a.m.

Sterigenics is still venting ethylene oxide into neighborhoods surrounding its facility in west suburban Willowbrook, according to federal testing that revealed spikes of the volatile, cancer-causing gas higher than concentrations...

S.H. Bell Co. has been storing toxic manganese at a facility between 101st and 103rd streets on Chicago's Southeast Side.

With EPA probe stalled by federal shutdown, city steps in to crack down on toxic manganese

May 23, 2019 at 1:44 a.m.

With a federal probe of brain-damaging manganese pollution stalled by the recent government shutdown, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is stepping in with new regulations intended to protect Chicagoans living near...

The Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook is in a cluster of buildings within a mile of four schools.

Illinois lawmakers demand answers about monitoring for cancer-causing chemical during government shutdown

May 23, 2019 at 1:43 a.m.

Illinois lawmakers demanded answers Friday about delays in monitoring for the cancer-causing ethylene oxide in several Chicago-area communities. During the prolonged government shutdown, federal contractors didn’t stop collecting air samples...

Cyclists ride past a Sterigenics facility at 7775 S. Quincy St. on Dec. 15, 2018, in Willowbrook.

Officials knew ethylene oxide was linked to cancer for decades. Here’s why it’s still being emitted in Willowbrook and Waukegan.

December 21, 2018 at 9:08 a.m.

When Julie Cannell was born in the 1980s, the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook churned up to 169,000 pounds of cancer-causing ethylene oxide into the air every year. Cannell grew up...

S.H. Bell, Watco Transloading and other storage companies along the Calumet River take advantage of quick barge and train access to ship supplies to steelmakers.

EPA finds another source of toxic manganese on Chicago’s Southeast Side

May 23, 2019 at 1:34 a.m.

Air monitors recorded dangerous levels of brain-damaging manganese this fall near another storage facility on Chicago’s Southeast Side, federal officials announced Tuesday as part of a widening probe of companies...

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