A Southeast Side chemical manufacturer agreed Tuesday to shutter part of its plant a day after an operational mishap spewed a toxic haze over a 3-mile stretch off the Bishop Ford Freeway.
In a court-approved agreement, PMC Inc. consented to a list of demands by the Illinois attorney general’s office–namely that it cease all operations pertaining to the handling of the leaked chemical, sulfur trioxide.
The agreement leaves open the door to further litigation against Delaware-based PMC and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Chicago Specialties Inc., to determine what, if any, penalties and remedial action will be assessed.
“Whether that is a court battle or a consent order remains to be seen,” said Charles Jolie, spokesman for Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan. “(Tuesday’s order) certainly doesn’t preclude any fine.”
On a separate front, the City of Chicago–which also signed on to Tuesday’s agreement–said it will file suit against one or more of the companies involved in Monday’s leak to recoup the costs of the massive emergency response.
City Environment Department spokesman Ken Davis said that, pending further investigation, “It is fairly apparent to us that there was a negligent act.”
While PMC is certain to be listed as a defendant in the suit, city Law Department spokeswoman Nina Cadsawan said late Tuesday that it remained unclear whether the city also will seek action against Rhone-Poulenc, the French-owned company that produced and shipped the chemical from its facility in Hammond.
Rhone-Poulenc on Tuesday denied responsibility. Officials for Chicago Specialties did not return phone calls.
Monday’s leak apparently began when the sulfur trioxide met with condensation and caused a small explosion while being transferred from a Rhone-Poulenc tanker truck into a storage facility operated by Chicago Specialties near East 115th Street and South Champlain Avenue. The explosion, which tore through a steel hose belonging to Chicago Specialties, spewed the chemical into the atmosphere, creating a slow-moving acidic cloud.
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A massive and costly emergency response followed, drawing on a diverse mix of city agencies–from the fire department, which deployed 75 firefighters and 30 pieces of equipment, to the CTA, which offered up some two dozen buses to assist in evacuations of hundreds of residents and students.
Rhone-Poulenc officials noted Tuesday that none of its employees was present during the transfer of sulfur trioxide, and that the chemical–while manufactured and sent by Rhone-Poulenc–actually was transported by a third company.
“We are responsible for the product until the customer takes delivery of it, and that happens when we pull the truck up for unloading,” said Rhone-Poulenc spokeswoman Mary Anne Ford.
Both Rhone-Poulenc and PMC have paid out hefty fines in recent years for a variety of environmental incidents, including a $1.6 million fine against PMC in 1995 for polluting city sewers with toxic chemicals.
On the Southeast Side, meanwhile, many residents said Tuesday that legal action is hardly needed to convince them of the perils they daily confront living in an area long considered the city’s dumping ground for all types of waste.
“This is nothing new to the people of Altgeld,” said Hazel Johnson, a 36-year resident of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Altgeld Gardens. She called the area, just south of the accident site, “The Toxic Donut.”
“We’re constantly inhaling chemicals,” said Johnson, who founded the environmental advocacy group People for Community Recovery in 1979.
State studies have shown the incidence of cancer is far greater among Southeast Side residents living near and around the dense industrial corridor stretching south from 115th Street along the Bishop Ford Freeway than among other Chicago residents.