Michael Hawthorne – Page 21

Environmental activist Celeste Flores, shown outside her Gurnee home, lives a mile from Medline Industries and about 2 miles from Vantage Specialty Chemicals, both ethylene oxide emitters.

2 Lake County polluters emit same cancer-causing gas as Sterigenics, but authorities haven’t warned the public

May 23, 2019 at 1:25 a.m.

Communities facing abnormally high cancer risks from toxic air pollution stand out on a color-coded map created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Only a few dozen residential areas nationwide...

Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Robert Berlin, the state's attorney of DuPage County, urged a state court to either shut down Sterigenics in Willowbrook or enforce more stringent limits on its emissions of ethylene oxide.

Citing cancer risks, Lisa Madigan, DuPage prosecutor urge court to shut down Sterigenics in Willowbrook

May 23, 2019 at 1:25 a.m.

The cancer-causing gas released by Sterigenics in west suburban Willowbrook is so dangerous the company is violating state laws intended to protect Illinoisans from harmful pollution, according to a bipartisan...

Attorney Gabriela Tejeda-Rios, who has lived near Sterigenics for nine years, attends a rally after testifying at the hearing called by lawmakers Oct. 26, 2018. Her two daughters have suffered chronic headaches since their early days in public schools that are near the facility.

Trump and Rauner administrations knew about Sterigenics cancer risks months before telling public

May 23, 2019 at 1:25 a.m.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration knew in December that toxic air pollution from the Sterigenics plant in west suburban Willowbrook likely was responsible for some of the highest cancer risks in...

Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam is in a hotly contested race against Democrat Sean Casten, a scientist and clean-energy entrepreneur, in the Nov. 6 election.

Chemical industry bought TV ads to thank Rep. Peter Roskam just before Sterigenics became hot issue

May 23, 2019 at 1:24 a.m.

Months before politicians saturated Chicago television stations with commercials, lobbyists for the nation’s chemical industry bought two weeks of local airtime thanking Republican Congressman Peter Roskam for championing their priorities....

Freight cars transport Wyoming coal to an Illinois Dynegy coal-fired power plant on Dec. 10, 2012. Vistra Energy, which now owns the plants previously operated by Dynegy, has pushed for changes to loosen state pollution limits.

State panel shelves Gov. Rauner’s EPA plan to ease pollution rules for Illinois coal plants

May 23, 2019 at 1:21 a.m.

With the Nov. 6 election looming, a state panel on Thursday shelved Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to relax limits on lung-damaging pollution from some of the last coal-fired power plants...

Neighbors of the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook are concerned that ethylene oxide gas used as a sterilizer there could pose elevated cancer risks.

In about-face, Gov. Bruce Rauner calls for Sterigenics shutdown after weeks of downplaying cancer risks

May 23, 2019 at 1:20 a.m.

After spending the past month downplaying cancer risks from toxic air pollution in west suburban Willowbrook, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday joined a chorus of elected officials calling for the...

Neringa Zymancius leads a protest at Sterigenics' headquarters earlier this month. The group was decrying the emissions from the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook.

After weeks of public outrage about Sterigenics, Trump EPA to test air in surrounding neighborhoods

May 23, 2019 at 1:19 a.m.

Faced with a public outcry weeks before statewide, congressional and legislative elections, the Trump administration vowed Thursday to conduct more extensive monitoring of cancer-causing air pollution in neighborhoods surrounding a...

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office had to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the state EPA to get Sterigenics records.

Rauner EPA withholds Sterigenics records from attorney general until local Republicans intervene

May 23, 2019 at 1:18 a.m.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is at odds with the state’s chief lawyer again, this time about the public health investigation of a suburban Chicago sterilization plant connected to the governor....

Organizer Neringa Zymancius, of Darien, leads protesters in front of the Oak Brook headquarters of Sterigenics on Sept. 14, 2018.

Trump, Rauner have the power to shut down a toxic Willowbrook plant. Will they use it?

May 23, 2019 at 1:17 a.m.

A company responsible for some of the nation’s highest cancer risks from toxic air pollution says its sterilization plant in west suburban Willowbrook operates well within the law. Also vouching...

General Iron Industries, on North Clifton Avenue in Chicago, collects flattened cars, used appliances and other scrap metal around the clock and operates massive shredders from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Emanuel, aldermen block attempt to cut hours of troubled North Side scrap shredder

May 23, 2019 at 1:17 a.m.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration and a group of aldermen vigorously defended a clout-heavy scrap yard on Tuesday, brushing aside neighbors who shared stories about noxious pollution and loud noises from...

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