Mark Templeton on East Chicago Residents Pushing For Say in Cleanup Case

East Chicago residents continue push for say in court case

A group of East Chicago residents continue to push for the ability to intervene in court proceedings between federal officials and the companies held responsible for the pollution in the Calumet neighborhood.

Residents of the U.S.S. Lead Superfund site objected to a ruling from Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry who found the residents could not intervene in court proceedings, primarily citing the proper time to step in had passed, a move their attorneys say doesn't account the years it took the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finally start cleaning up the contaminated neighborhoods.

"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.

Read more at The Chicago Tribune