Chicago judge reverses Southside Recycling permit denial

On June 1, Chicago Administrative Law Judge Mitchell Ex reversed the decision to deny Southside Recycling its large recycling facility (LRF) permit, determining it met the rules and requirements to obtain the permit based on evidence presented during a hearing.

The city of Chicago denied Southside Recycling its LRF permit in February 2022, preventing the company from operating its newly constructed facility on the southeast side of the city. Southside Recycling parent company, Reserve Management Group of Stow, Ohio, designed the yard to serve as an advanced automobile shredding facility, featuring a European-style shredder enclosure to better contain noise and emissions.

“As of March 2021, Southside Recycling had met the LRF requirements for an operating permit,” Ex writes in his decision. “Pursuant to Chicago Department of Public Health guidelines, [Southside Recycling] should have been issued a permit or a denial notice within 60 days. Instead, at the direction of Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot, the Chicago Department of Public Health, acting without City Council legislative authority, paused the permit application process and initiated a health impact assessment, which itself lacked authorization from the council. As a result of the [health impact assessment], additional concerns were raised and included in the denial letter. For the most part, these additional concerns had never been raised before, although the Chicago Department of Public Health was aware of, or should have been aware of, the items prior to February 2022.

“The denial letter is predicated on all of the items contained in the letter—the findings of the [health impact assessment], the allegations concerning the four affiliated companies and the concerns of lack of transparency and responsiveness during the application process. As noted, some raise legal issues, others involve factual determinations. It is not possible to separate out any one item from another to determine how much weight the commissioner gave to any individual item(s). Accordingly, for the reasons listed in the [Findings, Decisions & Order letter], the determination of the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health to deny a recycling permit to [Southside Recycling] is vacated.”

The city of Chicago has 35 days, or until July 5, to appeal this order, and Mayor Brandon Johnson says he plans to do so.

In a statement sent to Recycling Today, Johnson says he strongly disagrees with the decision. 

"My administration stands firmly behind CDPH’s permit denial and the comprehensive review that led to it. We will immediately appeal the administrative judge’s ruling and continue our fight to uphold our authority under the law to make decisions that protect the environment, health and quality of life for residents of the 10^th ward and all environmental justice communities.

"Our decision to appeal is guided in large part by the Health Impact Assessment conducted by CDPH, under the guidance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), that found that certain census block groups in the Southeast Side community rank among the highest in Chicago for vulnerability to air pollution, based on underlying health and social conditions. The HIA also found that community conditions on the Southeast Side have been affected by the presence of past and current industry and that the proposed Southside Recycling facility would contribute additional negative impacts. " 

Although the ruling reverses the permit denial decision, Southside Recycling still must obtain an LRF operating permit from the city to begin operating as the ruling did not require the city to provide a permit.

Southside Recycling tells Recycling Today this ruling is “a welcome victory after years of unforeseen obstacles and delays.”

“We will persist in our effort to operate the most environmentally conscious metal recycling facility in the country, which independent experts have repeatedly found fully satisfies state and federal benchmarks that protect public health and the environment,” the company says. “The hearing exposed the city’s failure to follow its own rules and ordinances. The administrative law judge found that we had met all the rules and requirements for an operating permit and a decision should have been issued within 60 days of March 2021. We will continue pursuing all of our rights and remedies, including our pending lawsuit, which has been on hold, to fully develop the facts supporting our claim for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. By allowing politics to hijack the apolitical permitting process governed by laws and regulations, the city demonstrated that it is not a reliable business partner, regardless of the risk to taxpayers.”