Last month, Brandon Johnson and five Alders introduced the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, which aims to address the disproportionate environmental burdens on Chicago’s South and Southside neighborhoods.
The ordinance outlines policy changes to zoning and permitting laws that could protect Chicago residents in historically underserved neighborhoods from worsening pollution. The ordinance uses findings from a 2023 Chicago Cumulative Impact Study, which analyzed the prevalence of health conditions alongside environmental conditions including pollution.
Mapping environmental racism in Chicago
The study’s “pollution burden” categories included “air toxics” and associated risks of cancer and organ hazards, childhood lead poisoning and traffic volume, and mapped hazardous waste facilities, as well as polluted sites and wastewater discharges. Other variables mapped in the study included employment rates, income levels, race and ethnicity and education levels.
The assessment was used to create the Chicago Environmental Justice Index and Map (Chicago EJ Index), which assigned a score for each of Chicago’s census tracts, which are small geographic areas used by the U.S. Census Bureau for data collection.
The index map produced by placing index scores into scaled percentiles reveals a stark contrast between Chicago’s northern tracks and the city’s south and west sides, signaling significant differences in industrial pollution in areas like Austin, East Garfield Park, Englewood and Humboldt Park.
What is the Hazel Johnson Ordinance?
An April 16 press release from the Mayor’s Office stated that the ordinance was aimed at reforming the city’s zoning review process for “heavy and intensive land uses” that are likely to produce more pollution in areas of the city that are already burdened with environmental stressors.
The press release states that the ordinance is specifically aimed at protecting communities of color, “which are statistically more likely to be exposed to pollution, especially from manufacturing.”
The ordinance proposes to create a new Department of Environment position, Environmental Justice Project Manager, who would oversee city projects. The ordinance would also establish an Environmental Justice Advisory Board which would include public health experts and community members from neighborhoods historically impacted by pollution.
Chicago’s legacy of advocacy
Environmental justice legislation in Chicago has been a long time coming. The ordinance is named after Hazel M Johnson, frequently described as the “Mother of the Environmental Justice Movement,” a South Sider who began holding Chicago institutions accountable in the 1970s. Johnson founded People for Community Recovery–an organization that is now backing the namesake ordinance–in 1979 to combat environmental inequities in Altgeld Gardens, her neighborhood.
Next steps
The ordinance is currently under consideration by the Chicago City Council. While the timeline for the ordinance’s passage is not yet finalized, Chicagoans are encouraged to participate by giving feedback on the ordinance as it awaits legislative review.
Opportunities to engage
The City of Chicago has initiated efforts to involve residents, particularly those in environmental justice communities, in the policymaking process. Chicagoans can contact their local Alderperson with support for the bill as well as feedback:
Or use the Illinois Environmental Council’s easy-to-fill-out form to send a message directly to your Alderperson urging them to co-sponsor and vote yes on the ordinance:
Organizations like the Friends of the Chicago River, the Edgewater Environmental Coalition and Alliance of the Southeast offer opportunities for local engagement to make policy-level changes.