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90_HB2932
New Act
Creates the O'Hare Toxic Air Pollution and Community
Right to Know Act. Provides that the General Assembly shall
direct the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, in
conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Health and
the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois
Medical School, to conduct a study of toxic air emissions at
O'Hare International Airport and report those findings to the
General Assembly.
LRB9010900LDdv
LRB9010900LDdv
1 AN ACT to create the O'Hare Toxic Air Pollution and
2 Community Right to Know Act.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the
6 O'Hare Toxic Air Pollution and Community Right to Know Act.
7 Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
8 (1) Residents of communities adjacent to and near O'Hare
9 Airport have complained about noxious air fumes smelling like
10 burned and unburned jet aircraft fuel being deposited in the
11 communities in which they reside.
12 (2) These residents have complained that these fumes are
13 in the air they breathe as well as coating their homes,
14 windows, outdoor furniture, cars, and outdoor living,
15 environments such as gardens and patios.
16 (3) Studies by the federal government show that engine
17 exhausts from jet aircraft operations contain a wide variety
18 of burned and unburned toxic organic compounds and chemicals
19 including benzene and formaldehyde.
20 (4) Medical studies by the federal government show that
21 many of the toxic organic compounds found in jet fuel exhaust
22 (either alone or in combination with other toxic organic
23 compounds) may cause a variety of adverse health impacts
24 including cancer, birth defects, and respiratory
25 difficulties.
26 (5) While residents in communities around O'Hare know
27 they are being subjected to exposure to these toxic compounds
28 from jet aircraft exhaust because they can smell the burned
29 and unburned jet emissions from O'Hare operations, there is
30 little quantitative information about the levels of these
31 toxic emissions in these residential communities or whether
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1 the levels of these toxic pollutants that these residents are
2 exposed to represent unacceptable public health hazards above
3 levels generally considered acceptable for residential
4 communities. Similarly little quantitative information is
5 available about the quantity, identity, and concentration of
6 the toxic pollutants that are generated by O'Hare operations,
7 the buildup of these concentrations under adverse climatic
8 conditions, and the transport of these toxic pollutants under
9 adverse conditions into the residential communities around
10 O'Hare airport.
11 (6) The residents of these communities have a right to
12 know the identity, quantity, and concentrations of these
13 toxic pollutants being transported into their residential
14 communities and whether these communities and the families,
15 children, elderly, and health impaired residents in these
16 communities are being exposed to unsafe and harmful levels of
17 these toxic pollutants.
18 (7) The General Assembly needs this information to
19 determine what steps, if any, are needed to reduce the toxic
20 pollutant emissions from O'Hare operations so that the levels
21 of these toxic pollutants are at safe and acceptable levels
22 in these residential communities.
23 (8) There is an intergovernmental organization of
24 residential communities adjacent to and in the vicinity of
25 O'Hare known as the Suburban O'Hare Commission that
26 represents the interests of these residential communities on
27 the issues of toxic air pollution. The Suburban O'Hare
28 Commission has expressed a willingness to work with State
29 agencies in developing and implementing a toxic air pollution
30 investigation to develop the toxic air pollution information
31 described in this Section.
32 Section 10. (a) Based on these findings the General
33 Assembly hereby directs the Illinois Environmental Protection
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1 Agency, in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public
2 Health and the School of Public Health at the University of
3 Illinois Medical School, to develop and conduct a study of
4 the toxic air emissions generated by operations at O'Hare
5 International Airport and report their final findings to the
6 General Assembly within 18 months of the effective date of
7 this Act.
8 (b) The elements of the study shall include but need not
9 be limited to:
10 (1) Determinations of the identity and chemical
11 composition of the pollutants generated by O'Hare
12 operations.
13 (2) Determinations of the concentration of these
14 pollutants in the air, both at the source and in receptor
15 residential communities, under a variety of
16 meteorological conditions, including worst case
17 conditions that would result in maximum concentrations.
18 (3) Determinations of the total number of pounds of
19 these pollutants generated by O'Hare operations on a peak
20 hour, daily, and annual basis.
21 (4) A determination as to whether these O'Hare
22 based pollutants operate in isolation or in combination
23 with pollutants from other sources in the air within the
24 residential receptor communities.
25 (5) A description of the toxic effects (including
26 toxic endpoints such as cancer, birth defects,
27 respiratory illness) of these pollutants, both alone and
28 in combination with other pollutants.
29 (6) A measurement and description of all the source
30 pathways for human exposure to these O'Hare based
31 pollutants, including inhalation, ingestion, and dermal
32 contact and including the contributions from deposits and
33 buildup of these pollutants on soil, plants, and physical
34 objects in these residential communities.
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1 (7) An analysis and recommendation of the
2 acceptable levels or concentrations of these pollutants
3 in these residential communities that provides
4 recommended concentrations at least as strict as those
5 set by the State or federal government for other
6 residential exposures to toxic chemicals. To the extent
7 there is medical uncertainty about the additive or
8 synergistic toxic effects of individual toxic pollutants
9 when mixed with other toxic pollutants or to the extent
10 there is any other medical uncertainty about the
11 quantifiability of toxic effects, the recommendations
12 shall embody factors of safety in accordance with
13 accepted medical and toxicological practice.
14 (c) The State agencies charged with the conduct of this
15 study are hereby directed to work with the Suburban O'Hare
16 Commission in the design and conduct of this study and to
17 make available to the Commission and its scientific
18 consultants all data and other documentary materials relating
19 to the study during the design and conduct of the study.
20 (d) During the course of the study, the State agencies
21 charged with the conduct of this study shall establish a
22 permanent network of toxic air quality monitoring stations
23 both at and adjacent to O'Hare airport and in the residential
24 communities impacted by toxic air pollutant emissions from
25 O'Hare operations. This monitoring network shall be
26 maintained by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on
27 an ongoing basis after the study has been completed and the
28 data results shall be reported on a monthly basis to the
29 public and the General Assembly.