EPA promises better communication with East Chicago residents

The EPA's move to improve its communication with residents of the Calumet neighborhood came out of a meeting Administrator Scott Pruitt had with those living at the Superfund site and other community advocates who voiced frustration at the difficulty people have had getting information about their properties and the ongoing clean up.

Resident Maritza Lopez, a leader of the East Chicago Calumet Coalition and We the People of East Chicago, said she looks forward to seeing how the EPA's plan will work as the residents have asked for improved communication for a long time.

"It's great they are going to implement this," Lopez said, but the plans are just on paper now and she's interested to see how it will work on the ground.

The EPA's communications with residents must consider the neighborhood's population, Lopez said, and recognize the number of people who speak Spanish and others who have trouble understanding the material the agency sends out.

"I'm hoping that's part of the implementation," Lopez said. "They have to understand the demographics."

The new initiatives the EPA is planning are:

• Have a community involvement coordinator who will be the direct point of contact for residents.
• Host monthly meetings to provide updates and answer questions.
• Track residents' inquiries in a database to see timely responses are provided.
• Maintain presence at the Carrie Gosch Elementary School so residents can talk to staff.
• Regularly update the U.S.S. Lead Superfund site web page.
• Publicize a hotline for residents.
• Regularly meet with city, state and federal officials to provide updates.

"As Administrator Pruitt highlighted during his visit to East Chicago last month, collaboration between the EPA, the State and local East Chicago leaders is critical to addressing past issues on this Superfund site," said Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, in a statement. "I thank the administrator for taking these important steps and for demonstrating his continued commitment to Hoosiers in Northwest Indiana."

The EPA's announcement of new communication efforts comes after attorneys continue to push a federal court to give residents a say in legal proceedings related to clean up plans at the site.

Two weeks ago, residents objected to Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry's denial of their petition to intervene on court proceedings between the U.S. Department of Justice, EPA and parties responsible for the contamination. Cherry wrote in his order that the residents' request was not timely in relation to the court proceedings.

Attorneys for the residents said the judge's perspective of timeliness did not account for the decades it took the EPA to step in and investigate and clean up the contamination in the Calumet neighborhood.

"The opinion raises an important question: When a community has been subject to decades worth of pollution and delay, how quickly should the community be required to act to enforce its legal rights," wrote David Chizewer and Emily Gilman, of Goldberg Kohn, Nancy Loeb and Debbie Chizewer of Northwestern's Environmental Advocacy Clinic, and Mark Templeton of the University of Chicago Law School Abrams Environmental Law Clinic, in the residents' objection.

The DOJ and judge have yet to respond to the residents' objection.