ARCO director Jack Saporito and ARCO's medical director Paula Cowan, M.D., professor of medicine, UIC, spoke at an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency meeting on O'Hare, on behalf of ARCO, American Cancer Society and Natural Resources Defense Council. The facts we presented -- were grim.
O'Hare is the top producer of hazardous and toxic emissions in the state of Illinois. If you factor in all the pollution O'Hare generates, we believe it is also one of the top twenty polluters in the world.
Just one example of O'Hare pollution problems: A toxic waste dump is allowed one cancer risk per one-million people, anything over that it would be shut-down. It is conservatively estimated that O'Hare Airport produces 400 cancer risks per one-million! ...And the area that is infected is much greater, as the pollution is also sprayed on us and our vegetation. ...And they want to put in more flights???
The following letter was authored by ARCO, a citizens group fighting the expansion of O'Hare Intl. Airport in Chicago, and addresses the issue of pollution.
December 17, 1996
Mr. John Williams
Agency Hearing Officer
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Dear Mr. Williams:
I am Jack Saporito, director of the Alliance of Residents Concerning O'Hare (ARCO). I have been personally involved with O'Hare Airport environment and health issues since 1990.
ARCO is grass roots organization and is not associated with any government agency, political or business group. ARCO represents over 1200 people from about a 25 mile radius of O'Hare, including Chicago. We are airline employees, members of the business community, teachers, doctors and others concerned about not only O'Hare noise but its environmental and health problems. We also represent some Chicago Air Traffic Controllers in safety/capacity matters.
ARCO has been awarded:
1995 Arlington Heights Environmental Award
1996 State Senate Recognition, "Protecting the health & safety of millions of O'Hare affected citizens."
1996 Illinois Sponsor of International Noise Awareness Day, sponsored by The League of the Hard of Hearing.
We stand for a balance between ecology and economy and are opposed to a new runway or more flights at O'Hare. We are committed to Protecting our Rights and Property, Safeguarding Health and Safety and Uniting with residents from other communities.
To us folks, this is not a political issue, but a human rights issue. The O'Hare Airport problem affects a large percentage of the population and O'Hare overcrowding is not just an annoyance, but a major health problem.
Conservatively, well over one million people suffer because of severe noise, air, ground and water pollution from O'Hare Airport.
The areas heavily polluted from O'Hare emissions begins as far out as 50 miles from the airport. It gets progressively worse as you get closer. Technical reasons are air mix-down, or where planes start stacking, but, anyone can check the side of their house and if there is a sticky black substance, it is probably jet A fuel deposits.
Many of the compounds emitted from O'Hare Airport emissions are highly carcinogenic. They cause CANCER. According to a USEPA study of Midway Airport, airplane engines were responsible for 10.5% of the cancers in the Southwest metro region. Surely with three times the amount of flights and much larger engines at O'Hare, we are at much greater risk.
Other O'Hare-produced toxic pollutants are highly suspected to cause many other maladies such as, birth defects, respiratory illnesses, liver damage, heart diseases and a host more.
Aviation emissions are transmitted by a spray that is dispersed overhead, that cannot be filtered out by our lungs and is directly transmitted into our blood stream. The mist is a sticky substance that attaches to vegetation and thus, is also ingested and drank.
In the state of Washington a sister group at a much smaller airport states, "We have enough anecdotal disease and death rates to choke a cow. Finally, the University of Washington is willing to begin an epidemiological study."
With that said:
1. According to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, O'Hare Airport is probably THE worst hazardous and toxic emissions-polluter in Illinois.
2. The air that we breathe from O'Hare most likely produces more cancer risks than a toxic waste dump.
3. It is the fifth largest producer of Smog forming gases (Nox & VOC's) in the area, which produces serious respiratory illness.
4. O'Hare's activities have significant impact on global warming as well. It has been calculated that aircraft emissions are responsible for one-half of the atmosphere's man-made Nitrogen Oxides burden.
5. Regarding O'Hare De-icing fluids, the ground runoffs flow untreated into surrounding creeks and into our water supply. Contamination is through ingestion, inhaling, and absorption through the skin. It is deadly and causes kidney, liver and central nervous system damage.
6. I believe that if you factor in all of O'Hare's pollution, including noise, O'Hare Airport is one of the top 20 polluters in the world.
7. Yet, O'Hare is NOT subjected to the same scrutiny and does not have to follow the same environmental rules that other industries must. As a result, businesses and private citizens must compensate by being regulated more and paying more.
We need to resolve the following:
The Alliance of Residents Concerning O'Hare suggests that the new American Airlines permit should not be issued until a comprehensive study has been done to determine the whole effects of O'Hare emissions. Further, the facility should be allowed to operate at the current limits of the last filed permit until the study and then pending action to reduce emissions is complete.
Lastly, more flights in an already over-taxed system just mean more unacceptable pollution. "Enough is enough!"
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Jack Saporito
Director
ARCO