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Southeast Side Chicago, Illinois

Southeast Environmental Task Force

The Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF) is a nonprofit serving the southeast side and south suburbs of Chicago through environmental education, pollution prevention, and sustainable development in an area that has endured generations of industrial pollution. They began in 1989 as a coalition of 30 grassroots organizations coming together to oppose a garbage incinerator proposed at an old steel site. Since then, SETF has stopped the proposed conversion of Lake Calumet into an airport, opposed landfills at O’Brien Lock, participated in the 2001 Calumet Initiative which restored and enhanced open space and economic opportunities, extended landfill moratoriums, and helped to close the Stateline Coal Power Plant. Their mission is to create a southeast Chicagoland that will one day serve as a national and international model for the integration of industrial, residential areas into an environmentally sustainable urban community.

In 2015, Southeast Environmental Taskforce executive director Peggy Salazar holds up a sooty hand after palming a garage door across the street from the area’s last remaining petcoke storage facility. Photo: Robin Amer/DNAinfo

Southeast Environmental Task Force’s staff of 10 reflects the predominantly Black and Hispanic neighbors they represent. They keep in touch with supporters through their mailing list, informing them of opportunities to volunteer with current projects, including climate, environmental, and water justice as well as specifics like “End Sacrifice Zones,” “Stop General Iron,” and “Green New Schools.” One current emphasis is the state’s Environmental Justice Bill, which would protect EJ communities from future pollution by industry. The bill was filed in the House in 2021 with 6 co-sponsors and acquired 16 more by 2022 when it went to the Senate. There it gained the support of 23 chief and alternate co-sponsors. SETF announced on Facebook that the bill had stalled in March 2022, but they made progress in 2023 in Chicago, whose mayor proposed changes to help the southeast side and other areas with disproportionate levels of pollution, declaring, “The time to act on environmental justice is now.”

The Stop General Iron Campaign members do door-to-door education and petitioning.

Contact
Rachel Patterson
Climate impacts
Air Pollution
Strategies
Fighting Industrial Contamination, Halting Bad Development, Renewable Energy
501c3 Tax Deductible
No
Accepting Donation
Yes