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$1.99 city and suburbs, $2.50 elsewhere170th year No. 205 © Chicago Tribune

During a stop in EastChicago three months ago,Scott Pruitt vowed thatcleaning up the low-in-come, predominantly Afri-can-American and Latinocity would be one of his toppriorities as head of theU.S.Environmental ProtectionAgency.

But as contractors spendthesummerdiggingupdoz-ens of contaminated yards

near abandoned industrialsites in the northwest Indi-ana city, the EPA has stalledits crackdown on a com-pany still operating nearbythat is a major contributorto chronically dirty air inthe community and thebroaderChicago area.

Before Pruitt took officein February, inspectorsfrom the EPA’s Chicagooffice had documented

hundreds of violations offederal air pollution stand-ards at the Indiana HarborCoke Co., which bakes coalinto high-carbon coke forsteel mills on a sprawlingman-made peninsula jut-ting from the southwestshore of LakeMichigan.

More than 100,000 peo-ple live within a 5-mileradius of the coke plant,includingEastChicagoresi-dents whose homes arewithin a 322-acre areawhere the EPA’s Superfundprogram is overseeing along-delayed cleanup.

Among other problemsfound during the past dec-ade, the EPA says Indiana

Harbor Coke has churnedout illegal amounts of lead— the samebrain-damagingmetaldeposited inEastChi-cago yards by smelters andfactories that closed longago.

The pollution violationsat Indiana Harbor Coke areserious enough that thecompany is on the EPA’swatchlist of repeat offend-ers. Yet the agency has heldoff filing a lawsuit againstthe coke plant, and somecurrent and former agencyofficials are concernedabout an overall slowdownof enforcement by an ad-

EPA inspectors have documented hundreds of violations of federal air pollution standards at the Indiana Harbor Coke Co.E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Crackdown on air polluterstalls under Trump’s EPAEast Chicago coke plant cited 6times since 2010, but watchdogagency holds off on filing lawsuit

Turn to Coke plant, Page 7

ByMichael Hawthorne | Chicago Tribune

“This case should be a slam-dunk. ....Nobody is willing to pull the trigger to enforce the law.”— Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project and former EPA enforcement official

In hisWrigley debut as aCub,JoseQuintana helps champs

catch theBrewerswitha 5-3win over theCardinals.Paul Sullivan: “Theo vs.

Hahn” is just one of the off-the-fieldmatchups in theCitySeries,which beginsMonday.

Chicago Sports

NUCCIO DINUZZO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CUBS 5, CARDINALS 3

TIEDAT THETOP

State officials are inves-tigating a longtime em-ployee whose personalemail address is a sourceof racist, sexist and anti-gay emails at the center ofthe Chicagowater depart-ment’s burgeoning scan-dal, including a fake “Chi-cago Safari” tour makinglight of the shootings ofchildren in black and His-panic neighborhoods.

The state began a re-view into Frank Capuzi —an investigator with theWorkers’ CompensationCommission and son of aformer Republican statelawmaker — followingTribune inquiries into of-fensive emails forwardedfrom his address to awater department bossand others.

Thestate’sactionsmarkthe first time the emailscandal has created fresh

headaches for anothergovernment body.

“The Illinois Workers’Compensation Commis-sion is currently investi-gating the highly offensiveand inexcusable emailmessages from one of itsemployees,” said commis-sion spokesman Ben No-ble. “After a complete andthorough administrativereview, the commissionwill determine what ac-tionsmay be appropriate.”

Capuzi hung up on areporter and did not re-spond to follow-up emailssent to his work and per-sonal addresses. He hasworked for the state since1975 andmakesmore than$114,000per year.

Capuzi, 62, was a long-time GOP committeemanon the West Side, havingwon the26thWardpost asrecently as 2008 and the27th Ward at least as farback as the early 1980s,according to records fromtheChicagoBoardofElec-tions.

The “Chicago Safari”email was among at least

State workertripped up inemail probeOfficial’s personalaccount source ofracist messagesBy Ray Longand Todd LightyChicago Tribune

Turn to Emails, Page 5

WASHINGTON—TheWhite House indicatedSunday that PresidentDonaldTrumpwas recep-tive to a sweeping Russiasanctions measure, whichthe House could take upthis week, that requireshim to get Congress’ per-mission before lifting oreasing the economic pen-alties againstMoscow.

Lawmakers are sched-uled to consider the sanc-tions package as early asTuesday, and thebill couldbe sent to Trump beforeCongress breaks for theAugust recess.The legisla-tion is aimed at punishingMoscow for meddling inthe presidential electionand itsmilitary aggression

inUkraine and Syria.Sarah Huckabee Sand-

ers, the newly appointedWhite House press secre-tary, said the adminis-tration is supportive ofbeing tough onRussia and“particularlyputting thesesanctions in place.”

“We support where thelegislation is now, andwillcontinue to work with theHouse and Senate to putthose tough sanctions inplace on Russia until thesituation in Ukraine isfully resolved,” Sanderssaid on ABC’s “ThisWeek.”

Asked about the sanc-tions almost simulta-neously on CNN’s “Stateof the Union,” newWhiteHouse CommunicationsDirector Anthony Scara-mucci noted he’d been onthe job only for a fewdays.“You’ve got to ask Presi-dent Trump that. My

Russia sanctionsbill gains steamTrump said to beopen to legislationdirected at MoscowBy Richard LardnerAssociated Press

Turn to Russia, Page 10

Two years have passedsince the Police Depart-ment of Dixon, Ill., began abold experiment in the faceof a spiraling heroin epi-demic: Instead of arrestingdrug users, it would usherthem into treatment.

Since then, the programknown as Safe Passage hasexpanded into surroundingcounties and placed 170people into rehab. PoliceChief Danny Langloss said

an informal review of theirprogress showed that morethan half had success intreatment—with the rest of

the community benefitingtoo.

“In 2016, the number ofmisdemeanor and felony

drug arrests dropped by 39percent,” he said. “I thinkthat the programplays a bigfactor in that. Our aggres-siveness in pursuing drugoffenders hasn’t changed;it’s that we’ve helped somany get into treatment,and we know a lot of themare doingwell.”

Seventy miles away inElgin, a different pictureemerges.

The city’s police haveoffered a similar servicesince January, advertising itthrough social and tradi-tional media. But despite apopulation that is seventimes larger than Dixon’s,only three people have ex-pressed interest in getting

Offering help instead of handcuffsInterest grows inpolice programsthat place drugusers in treatment

By John KeilmanChicago Tribune

Turn to Programs, Page 4

Sheryl Eakin is a liaison between Naperville police and drugusers who seek treatment through the Police Department.

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

At least nine people died after being crammed into asweltering tractor-trailer foundparked outside aWal-mart in themidsummerTexas heat, authorities saidSunday inwhat they described as an immigrant-smug-gling attempt gonewrong. The driverwas arrested, andnearly 20 others rescued from the rigwere hospitalizedin dire condition, officials said. Survivors of theweek-end tragedy saidmore than100peoplemayhave beenpacked into the back of the18-wheeler at one point inits journey.Nation & World, Page 9

Immigrant-smuggling suspectedafter 9 die in sweltering 18-wheeler

ChicagoWeatherCenter: Completeforecast on back page of A+E section

Tom Skilling’s forecast High77 Low63

7Chicago Tribune | Section 1 | Monday, July 24, 2017

ministration that is pushingto cut the EPA’s budget by athird, lay off thousands ofemployees and roll back itsregulatory powers.

“This case should be aslam-dunk,” said Eric Scha-effer, who resigned in pro-test as the agency’s topenforcement official duringthe GeorgeW. Bush admin-istration and now heads thenonprofit EnvironmentalIntegrity Project. “I’ve beentold by career staff at theagency that everybody iskind of frozen since Pruittarrived.Nobody iswilling topull the trigger to enforcethe law.”

Six legal settlementswithpolluters have been an-nounced by the EPA sincePresident Donald Trumptook office, according to atally posted on the agency’swebsite. At the same pointduring the Barack ObamaandGeorgeW.Bushadmin-istrations, the EPA had fi-nalized 12 and 10 cases,respectively.

While it is common fornew presidential adminis-trations to put legal matterstemporarily on hold, Pruitthas said he plans to shiftmany of the EPA’s responsi-bilities to the states, whichbefore the agency was cre-ated in 1970 often wereincapable of holding pollut-ers accountable or unwill-ing to do so.

Many of Pruitt’s officialtrips and public appear-ances have highlighted thenew administration’s will-ingness to work moreclosely with companiesregulated by theEPA.

“It’s sad that a regulatorybody of the government ofthe United States woulddeclare awar on any part ofour economy,” he told coalminers in Sycamore, Pa., inApril. “The regulatory as-sault is over.”

An EPA spokesman de-clined to make officialsavailable to answer ques-tions about the agency’senforcement actionsagainst Indiana HarborCoke.

“EPA will carefully re-view all complaints, andensure environmental lawsare enforced as a part of itscommitment to East Chi-cago,” the agency said in aJuly 14 email.

The facility is owned byLisle-based SunCoke Ener-gy, a company alreadyunder a court-ordered legalsettlement with the EPA toclean up two newer coke-making operations in Gran-ite City, Ill., near St. Louis,andFranklinFurnace,Ohio.Like the Indiana facility,both plants emitted exces-sive amounts of lead, lung-

damaging sulfur dioxideand soot, and other hazard-ous chemicals, court docu-ments show.

Kyle Bland, SunCoke’sdirector of finance and in-vestor relations, said thecompany still plans to nego-tiate an agreement with theEPA to resolve the viola-tions by Indiana HarborCoke. “We are exploring anumber of projects ... tomeet our environmentalperformance standards,”Bland said in an interview.He declined to elaborate.

‘Environmentallyfriendly’

When SunCoke’s corpo-rate predecessor built 268giant ovens next to InlandSteel’s Indiana HarborWorks in 1998, it marked anew era of production forthe coke industry.

Steel mills rely on high-carbon coke to fuel blastfurnaces, though U.S. cokeproduction has steadilydwindled as the industryhas been roiled by competi-tion from overseas compa-nies and from domesticmanufacturers that rely onrecycled steel.

The last coke plant inChicago closedmore than adecade ago. In 2015, U.S.Steel shuttered the cokeplant that supplied its cen-tury-old Gary Works a fewmilesdowntheLakeMichi-gan shore from the EastChicago mills, now ownedbyArcelorMittal.

Conventionalmethods ofbaking coal into coke gener-ate toxic byproducts, someof which are collected andrefined to produce indus-trial chemicals such as ben-zene, naphthalene and tolu-ene. But over the years thecoke industry often hasfailed to prevent harmfulpollution from leaking intothe air.

SunCoke, which sellscoke to ArcelorMittal, U.S.Steel and other companieson contract, touts itstechnology as an “environ-mentally friendly” alterna-tive. Pollution generatedduring the long hours ofbaking coal is convertedinside the ovens to gas usedtopowerelectricgeneratorsnext to thecompany’s facili-ties. The ovens are cheaperand cleaner to operate andemploy fewer workers thantraditional producers, ac-cording to the company’sinvestor presentations.

Yet the EPA has docu-mented pollution violationsat SunCoke’s plants in Indi-ana, Illinois and Ohio thatinvolve toxic gases, metalsand other pollution leakingfrom coke oven doors oremitted directly into the airrather than being chan-

neled through pollution-control equipment.

The EPA has cited Indi-ana Harbor Coke six timessince 2010 for violationsthat date to 2005. In themost recent notice, sent inJune 2016, the agency out-lined “continuously leakingemissions” from 55 ovensduring an inspection a fewdays earlier and from 14ovens during a March in-spection.

Most of the other cokeproducers across the nationareon theEPA’swatchlist of“high priority violators,”meaning they have beensubjected to court-orderedcleanups or chronically ex-ceed legal limits on airpollution. All but two of the15plants currently inopera-tion were subject to majorenforcement cases duringthe Obama administration,according toEPA records.

Legacy ofpollution

Steel mills, oil refineriesand chemical plants onceoperated largely uncheckedin East Chicago, a factorytown of about 30,000 peo-ple that for years featuredthe slogan “industrial capi-tal of the world” on streetsigns.

The city’s air and watergenerally are cleaner today.During the past four dec-ades, the EPA has steadilyforced companies to curbnoxious air pollution andcleanup toxicwaste, oil andgrease dumped into LakeMichigan and area rivers.

But federal scientistshave documented how pol-lution drifting from North-west Indiana remains a bigcontributor to dirty airproblems in the Chicagoareaandas far awayasDoorCounty, Wis. And the re-gion’s legacy of toxic pollu-tionremainsaconstantcon-cern.

Two East Chicago’sschools are near a landfillthat contains highly con-taminated waste dredgedfrom the Indiana Harborand Ship Canal. Another isnext to the West CalumetHousing Complex, a publichousing development builton the site of a former leadsmelter.

Alarmed by new testingthat found high levels oflead throughout the site,East Chicago Mayor An-thony Copeland orderedthe evacuation of WestCalumet last year, prompt-ing theEPA to accelerate itscleanup of the surroundingneighborhood.

During Pruitt’s April vis-it,hecited theEPA’sworkasan example of what he callsthe Trump administration’s“back-to-basics” agenda.

The agency is refocusing onhazards that led to its cre-ation, Pruitt says, ratherthan fighting climatechange and other emergingthreats that were prioritiesduring the Obama adminis-tration.

“Pleaseknowthat it is theEPA’s objective—myobjec-tive as administrator of theEPA— to come in andmakesure the people’s health isprotected here in East Chi-cago, and that they canhaveconfidence that their land,their health, will be securein the long term,”Pruitt saidafter a closed-door meeting

withstateand localofficials.In an EPA news release

issued the same day, Pruittsaid: “I am committed toensuring that the EPAworks with our federal,state and local partners tofind solutions that protectthehealth and safety ofEastChicago.”

Before Trump tappedhim to head the EPA, Pruittbuilt his political careerfighting the agency, oftencoordinating his effortswith oil and gas intereststhat have been big financialsupporters of his cam-paigns. He sued the EPA 14

times asOklahomaattorneygeneral, seeking to limit thefederal government’s au-thority to regulate pollu-tion, anddisbandedanenvi-ronmental enforcementunit created by his prede-cessor.

During his first monthsasEPAadministrator, Pruitthas moved to roll backtougher fuel economystandards for automakers,overruled agency scientistsby denying a petition to bana brain-damaging pesticide,delayedmore stringent lim-its on lung-damaging smog,and launched efforts toscrapObama’s plans to fightclimate change.

Cynthia Giles, whoheaded the EPA’s enforce-ment office under Obama,said the agency won’t haveenoughresources to investi-gate polluters or resolvepending cases if the Repub-lican-controlled CongressapprovesTrump’sproposedbudget cuts.

The agency’s budgetwould be reduced to $5.7billion, its lowest level in 40years when adjusting forinflation. Spending on en-forcement would be dra-matically cut back, includ-ing efforts to get corpora-tions, rather than taxpayers,to pay for Superfund clean-ups in places like East Chi-cago.

“No money would beavailable for monitoringequipment, inspections,sample analysis, experts,management of themillionsof documents involved inlarge cases, and many otherthings,” Giles wrote in anemail summary. “WhateverEPA enforcement staff areleft after massive layoffswould not be able to actu-ally bring enforcementcases.”

It is unclear what hap-pens next with IndianaHarbor Coke. Keith Harley,a lawyer who representsenvironmental groups inthe area, is urging federalandstate regulators towith-hold a new permit for thecoke ovens until the pollu-tion violations are resolved.He also called for an “envi-ronmental justice” analysisof the cumulative effects ofair pollution in the region.

“We have so many prob-lems beyond the Superfundsite,” said Thomas Frank, alongtime East Chicago resi-dent who leads “toxictours” of the area andhelped organize protestsduring Pruitt’s visit. “Allow-ing others to keep pollutingand breaking the law justadds to the unfair burdenour community suffers ev-ery day.”

mhawthorne@chicagotribune.comTwitter@scribeguy

Multiple citations, no enforcementCoke plant, from Page 1

Pollution violations and citations have landed Indiana Harbor Coke Co. on the EPA’s watchlist of “high priority violators,” yet the agency has held off filing a lawsuit against the plant.E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

2

THE CITATIONS

TheEnvironmental ProtectionAgency has cited IndianaHarborCokeCo. six times since 2010 for pollutionviolations. Sulfur dioxide can damage the lungs and is aningredient in smog. Soot triggers lung disease, heartproblems and premature death.

EastChicago cokeproducercited for air pollution

IND.ILL.

Chicago

LAKE

MICHIGAN

Indiana HarborCoke Co.

9094 Miles 3

EastChicago

SEPTEMBER 2012For bypassing pollution controls and

for soot violations on 12 days fromOctober to December 2009, on 201 daysin 2010 and on 224 days in 2011.

1MAY 2010For bypassing pollution controls

and emitting high levels of sulfur dioxideand particulate matter, commonlyknown as soot.

3APRIL 2013For emissions of coke oven gases

exceeding permit limits on 239 daysbetween January 2012 and March 2013.Nearly 21 percent of gases went directlyinto the air during 2012, rather than beingchanneled through pollution-controlequipment.

4DECEMBER 2013For hundreds of soot violations

during four weeks of testing in Octoberand November.

5February 2015For exceeding limits on emissions

of brain-damaging lead 59 times in2012 and 216 times in 2013.

6JUNE 2016For multiple incidents in which the

company failed to properly seal cokeoven doors to prevent toxic gases fromleaking into the air.

SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency CHICAGO TRIBUNE

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016