(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The owner of a controversial car-shredding operation has filed another complaint against the city of Chicago — this time in state court — after a federal judge tossed out a similar lawsuit last month.
The latest lawsuit, filed by the owner of General Iron, aims to force the city to issue a final permit for a new, renamed scrap-metal operation at East 116th Street and the Calumet River, in addition to seeking more than $100 million in damages due to the delay.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced in May she would hold off on issuing the permit until an environmental assessment could be completed. That decision came after a request from President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
The Lightfoot Administration signed a two-page agreement with General Iron and Reserve Management Group back in September 2019, at which time the company was proposing to buy the shredding operation and move it to the Southeast Side, where it has existing operations.
The agreement also laid out plans to close General Iron’s facility in Lincoln Park. RMG then began building its new operation, rebranded as Southside Recycling (SR), which the lawsuit says cost $80 million.
The company claims it followed every step of the two-year permitting process, building the “most environmentally conscious recycling facility in the country,” but that the city has now let down its end of the agreement.
The city, which declined to comment Thursday because of the pending litigation, has denied the company’s claims in legal documents.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2021. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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