Illinois AG Filed Lawsuit Against Parties Responsible for Improper Smokestack Demolition at Retired Coal Plant

MAY 5, 2020

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit against a developer, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, and two contractors, MCM Management and Controlled Demolition Inc., over the improperly conducted demolition of the smokestack of a retired coal-fired power plant in Chicago. The complaint noted that the companies “failed to take adequate precautions to minimize the dispersion of particulate matter from the felling of the smokestack,” which allowed “a dense cloud of particulate matter and other presently unknown substances the length of the smokestack to rise up from” the demolition site and spread over an adjacent neighborhood. The complaint also emphasized that the demolition caused significant health impacts among residents near the site, including psychological distress and “asthmatic responses and other respiratory distress, such as pain breathing.”