Chicago City Wire

A recycling company denied a permit from Chicago is accusing the administration of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot of playing politics in denying an operating permit for Southside Recycling.

"If Reserve Management Group (Southside’s owner) not had this agreement with the city ... it never would have invested the money to expand its operations and built Southside Recycling. So the idea that the city makes an agreement, knows exactly what's going where, has created special rules to govern and regulate that facility and then, only because of the build up of political pressure brought by opponents who have have constantly beaten the drum with myths and misinformation about how a facility like this operates and what it does, and its role in the recycling chain and the effects of it caved to that pressure, pure and simple for what appear to be nothing but political reasons," spokesman Randall Samborn told Chicago City Wire.

Reserve Management Group is suing the city, claiming the decision to pull its permit is based solely on politics.

"It's that message to the business community that the city's word can't be relied upon, that it doesn't live up to the spirit or the letter of its written agreement and is saying 'we're not going to adhere to our word given the slightest whiff of political opposition or pressure.' That's really a message that businesses can and I'm sure will be aware of in making decisions whether to relocate, invest, to expand operations in the city of Chicago or go elsewhere,” he said.  

The Southside Recycling plant location on Chicago’s southeast side has been completely constructed and is awaiting use, but is being mothballed after a series of protests were followed by a ruling by the Biden Administration calling into question the facility’s impact.

"Chicago has loudly stated that politics – not signed agreements, its own laws and regulations, nor actual protection of human health and the environment – is the ultimate consideration in all matters," Southside Recycling said in a statement following the denial of a permit for its recycling plant.

After the denial, the completed plant's future is unclear.

Southside Recycling opened the site to city and federal officials as rumors about its sustainability swirled in Chicago’s political class.

The plant operators noted the plant was not denied due to pollution, as many have claimed.

"We have built the most environmentally conscious metal recycling facility in the country, but politicians and government officials have ignored the facts and instead were cowed by persistent false narratives and misinformation aimed at demonizing our business. What should have been an apolitical permitting process was hijacked by a small but vocal opposition that long ago made clear they would unconditionally oppose this facility, facts and science be damned. Politics, not environmental or public health protection, is the only reason that the city denied Southside Recycling’s permit to operate," Southside Recycling said in the statement.

Southside Recycling received 2,000 signatures on a petition to allow the facility to open.

"Experts repeatedly determined that Southside Recycling would not threaten public health or environmental justice efforts. When the Illinois EPA completed its exhaustive review process and issued our state air permit in June 2020, its efforts were lauded by career professionals at the U.S. EPA for taking a rigorous approach to community engagement and environmental justice considerations. And the City’s own health experts, using intentionally inflated parameters to overstate the effects of the operation, still concluded that the facility poses no risk of adverse health effects above the benchmarks defined by the U.S. EPA," Southside Recycling said in its statement.  

Southside Recycling vowed to pursue further legal action.

"We will continue to pursue all avenues to challenge this decision, including pressing our lawsuit against the city, which will likely result in taxpayers being on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages," the company said.

An invitation to visit the site for Lightfoot, CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady and U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan was turned down.

Regan in particular said the plant "raised significant civil rights concerns" but refused to tour the site and neighboring area when asked.

"In spite of the significant negative attention that media has given this story, none of you have felt it necessary to actually visit our facility," EO Steve Joseph and Chief Operating Officer Hal Tolin said in a letter.

The Biden administration’s top environmental official became involved in May 2021 over "civil rights concerns."

The refusal of the permit makes Sims Metal Midwest the sole recycler of the same waste metals that would have been open for recycling at Southside Recycling.

A group of concerned small businessmen who run recycling companies have said the move to keep Southside Recycling from opening up will stifle completion and cost them millions in earnings.

Others have noted Sims Metal Midwest’s plant has had repeated pollution control problems one of which it was fined $255,000. That plant is also up for permit from the Biden Administration who with the city effectively blocked Southside Recycling from operating.