CHICAGO (AP) – The owner of a metal-shredding facility has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to force the city of Chicago to issue a permit for the company to open a new facility in a Southeast Side neighborhood. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said the city won’t issue a permit to Southside Recycling, formally known as General Iron, until an environmental assessment is complete, following a request by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Opponents say permitting the facility at East 116th Street and the Calumet River would amount to environmental racism because it would move a polluting business from Lincoln Park, a white, wealthy neighborhood, to a Latino-majority community.
