‘The Air We Breathe:’ How industry is polluting Cicero’s air
Poor air quality and pollution has been a persistent problem in Cicero and nearby Little Village for decades, with experts attributing it to Cicero’s century-long history of heavy industry, its residential density and a lack of parks and trees.
In March 2023, the Independiente partnered up with MuckRock to install air quality sensors on volunteers’ homes. These sensors are installed in three locations in Cicero: near 51st Court and 14th Street, 54th Court and 31st Street and 59th Avenue and 38th Street. Our sensor readings showed that Cicero’s air quality is markedly worse than places with other bustling industrial corridors in Chicagoland, such as the Lower West Side and Navy Pier.
The health effects of living in a place with decidedly poor air quality can be devastating and stretch across generations. Emissions from gas- and diesel-powered trains, trucks and machines include harmful pollutants: volatile organic materials, or VOM, which include cancer-causing compounds.
For more information on our project and to explore the data, check out the GitHub repository.
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![A crowd of people looking into a secret meeting](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2024/07/08/2024_Koppers_2400x800.PNG.2400x800_q85_crop.png.900x300_q85_crop.png)
Elected officials are opting out of secret Koppers community meetings about air pollution.
The Illinois EPA has created a Koppers resource website, with documents related to all four Illinois EPA violations, due to “significant public interest” in the facility. And the state attorney general’s office said it received more information from the Illinois EPA related to Koppers’ alleged violations in December, saying in a statement that it is “evaluating the matter.”
![Black bars with the word For the Record underlined](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2024/04/30/For_the_Record.png.900x300_q85_crop.png)
For the Record: Appealing an unduly burdensome denial in Illinois
This week’s For the Record shares how reporters at MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente overcame rejection in their “Air We Breathe” series.
![People looking inside a private meeting](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2024/04/08/2024_Koppers_2400x800.PNG.900x300_q85_crop.png)
The inside story on a billion-dollar chemical company’s fight to keep its secrets from the public
After the Cicero Independiente and MuckRock published investigative articles about air pollution and the chemicals company Koppers, it hired a public-relations firm to organize a secret, behind-the-scenes campaign to influence local officials.