Lemont officials said they have reached out to representatives of Citgo following resident complaints alleging the company released high amounts of harmful chemicals in the air without notifying the public, and hope to get more answers at a Nov. 20 meeting.
The complaints are a part of an decades-long dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and Citgo facility near Lemont over alleged violations to the Clean Air Act, including an almost $2 million civil penalty in 2016, and a more than $700,000 fine for alleged Clean Air Act violations in 2013 following a failed compressor incident and dating back to an EPA citation in 2001.
Residents rallied at a village meeting Oct. 20 alleging the EPA documents revealed the company released 40 to 70 parts per billion of benzene into the air between April 27 and May 2, 2025.
Benzene is a chemical that can get into the air from emissions from burning coal and oil, gasoline service stations and motor vehicle exhaust, according to a 2016 EPA report, which classified the chemical as a human carcinogen. Short-term exposure can cause symptoms ranging from drowsiness and dizziness to unconsciousness at high levels, according to the report. The report also connects long-term exposure with risks such as blood disorders, reproductive effects and leukemia.
Keene Kelderman, a research manager at the nonprofit Environmental Integrity who specializes in benzene concentration levels, said while the levels do not require action from the company under federal guidlines, the numbers are concerning for health risks and show that possible releases from the facility lead to higher concentrations at certain times.
The data measurement the residents are referring to, he said, shows real-time data of benzene concentrations released at different sites at the Lemont refinery.
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The facility would be required to take action under the EPA refinery sector rule if the annual rolling average of benzene concentrations, not the real-time data, exceeded 9 micrograms per cubic meter.
As of June 24, 2025, the Lemont refinery’s rolling average of benzene concentration was at 7 micrograms per cubic meter. The refinery reached its highest number in this measurement in June 2023, at 8.9 micrograms per cubic meter, but has not exceeded the threshold in at least five years, according to Environmental Integrity data.
But even if the facility exceeded this threshold, this does not mean the benzene concentration is a violation of EPA regulations, EPA officials said in documents residents received via the Freedom of Information Act.
EPA officials stated in the documents that data may also show benzene from nearby sources that refineries do not manage, such as neighboring facilities, roadways, airports, marine ports and from environmental events.
“Consequently, while this monitoring program is a reasonable means for a refinery to oversee its emission sources, there may be situations where the monitors identify benzene emissions that do not originate from the refinery,” the report read.
Yet Kelderman said the data numbers are still concerning to health of nearby residents, especially the real-time data residents have referring to in their advocacy.
He said it would be especially concerning if these real-time higher concentrations of benzene are located near subdivisions.
The EPA data shows benzene concentration at one specific monitor at the facility spiked May 27, reaching its highest point in more than six years, which Kelderman said could indicate some sort of incident occurred.
Resident Amy Kelly based allegations on EPA data the residents received Oct 16 through the FOIA request. The documents included fence line data, which is an air quality measurement from the perimeter of industrial facilities using an environmental gas chromatograph to monitor specific pollutants, between April and May 2025.
Residents said they were not notified of the recent high concentration of benzene in the air and have the right to immediate public notification when hazardous chemicals are released under the Emergency Planning and Community Right To Know Act, a 1986 federal law that requires facilities such as Citgo to report on the storage, use and releases of certain chemicals to help communities plan for and respond to chemical emergencies.
Lauren Cook, a resident and mother in Lemont, said at the Oct. 27 board meeting she appreciated some of the village’s efforts to address the benzene and said she hopes officials continue with that, but questioned how seriously the company is taking the issue.
“We need you to keep pushing for us because the squeaky wheel gets the work done so if it’s not squeaking we’re not going to get the oil,” Cook said. “We want to advocate for ourselves now and push for that transparency and push for making sure we are looking for the safety of our future.”
Lemont Village Administrator George Schafer said the village does not have the knowledge to confirm the accuracy of the residents’ data, and noted the Citgo oil refinery is not located in Lemont. The 1100 acre facility is at 135th Street and New Avenue in unincorporated Will County, according to an EPA report.
But he said village officials understand residents have concerns.
“We continue to communicate with the refinery as well as the Illinois EPA to ensure air quality safety for our residents and that reporting and notification requirements are met by those entities,” Schafer said in an emailed statement.
He said the Illinois EPA recently assured village officials that if there was a safety concern to residents, including those in Lemont, there would be notification. He said the Illinois EPA is responsible for monitoring such reporting.
Jen Hannon, public affairs manager for the Lemont Refinery for Citgo Petroleum Corporation, said in a statement Oct. 28 that while the company acknowledges community concerns about air quality, social media claims have misrepresented data.
She said the refinery meets all regulatory reporting requirements and keeps benzene levels below EPA limits, taking corrective action if levels rise. The company also joins programs such as the Odor Alert Network and a Community Awareness Emergency Response Council, made up of police, fire, other community leaders, and refinery leadership, to keep the community informed and maintain transparency, she said.
“The CITGO Lemont Refinery has been part of the local community for 99 years,” Hannon wrote in an emailed statement. “As a good neighbor, our operations are guided by our underlying values — we live and work here too. That’s why it’s important to understand the real data and facts surrounding our operations.”
“We will continue to monitor, report, and engage with regulators and community partners to provide accurate information and respond to questions promptly,” she said.
Schafer said he and Lemont police Chief Jason LoCoco met with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency officials virtually Oct. 28 to better understand notification protocol, and were assured the community would be notified through the Illinois Emergency Management Agency of safety incidents. He said if the village received these notifications, they would relay them to residents through the village’s notification system.
Mayor John Egofske said he hopes the residents’ concerns can be figured out at a Nov. 20 meeting with the Lemont Environmental Advisory Commission, which Citgo officials said they would attend.
“Hopefully we can flush out the noise where people are giving their opinions on what they’re seeing,” Egofske said in October.
LoCoco said EPA-trained Tom Ballard, director of the Lemont Emergency Management Agency, investigates residents’ air quality complaints and tracks wind and pressure data. He said environmental chair Brian Reinke reviews complaint and monitoring data to explain findings to the public and emphasized the information is public and closely monitored, assuring residents regulators would act if serious issues arose.
The Citgo Lemont Refinery has faced several EPA enforcement actions for Clean Air Act violations, including improper emissions reporting and exceeding emissions. In 2013, Citgo paid a $737,000 fine and made improvements to reduce air toxics, and in 2016, it paid nearly $2 million in penalties and invested about $42 million in pollution controls.
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The Citgo facility in Lemont, along with BP Whiting in Indiana and ExxonMobil in Joliet, have also received pushback from environmental advocates for allegedly releasing massive amounts of toxic chemicals and heavy metals into waterways with little oversight from government regulators.
These concerns arose in 2023 following the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project’s analysis of federal data.
“You have refineries that may look like they are complying with the law, but the standards are decades old and really don’t require very much,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and former chief of civil enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2023.