Crime & Law
Illinois, Chicago Sue South Side Plant Over ‘Noxious Odors’ and Air Pollution
For years, Southeast Side residents have complained of foul odors plaguing their neighborhood. The smell is allegedly coming from Pullman Innovations, a vegetable oil plant in South Deering.
Neighbors said the smell resembles everything from sewage, to rotting meat, to corpses.
Earlier this month, Chicago’s Department of Environment filed a joint lawsuit with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office against the plant after hundreds of 311 calls and letters to city officials from residents.
In a statement to WTTW News, Angela Tovar, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Environment said, “Pullman Innovations has subjected nearby residents to years of noxious odors, and this joint lawsuit filed by the City of Chicago and the Illinois Attorney General makes clear: regulated businesses that compromise the public health and environment of our residents will be held accountable. Communities on Chicago’s Southeast Side deserve the same clean air and quality of life as anywhere else in the city, and this administration will not accept anything less.”
City officials said the lawsuit came at the recommendation of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which issued a violation notice to the facility in May 2025.
Representatives from Pullman Innovations did not respond to a request for comment.
The odors raise concerns about air pollution and other health risks.
“You get bronchitis or respiratory issues, and (the facility) just increases chances of cancer, which is not normal for any community,” said Oscar Sanchez, co-executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force. “And children should not be going through that, alongside the elderly.”
Southeast Side residents are pursuing justice through a class action lawsuit, which was filed early last year on behalf of the more than 2,400 households located near the plant.
Sanchez said residents deserve financial compensation for the years of harm and great lengths they went in order to get the issue resolved.
“It was over 800 complaints that had to happen in order for there to be investigators that were on site, and when they went on site, they said it was so foul for them to actually continue,” Sanchez said. “This is something that children, elderly and our families are going through every single day.”
The Southeast Side is no stranger to air pollution. The community’s residents are often disproportionately impacted by environmental concerns like air quality because of the numerous industrial plants in the area.
“Breathing fresh air is something that we know we have an issue with on the Southeast Side,” Ald. Peter Chico (10th Ward) said. “We cannot go outside. We cannot walk our child to school. We cannot even have a barbecue and invite people over, we are embarrassed. So we are going to march on full force as this case progresses to see how the community can be helped forward.”
