Judge halts South Side plant operations over city, state’s foul odor lawsuit
A judge ordered the temporary halt of operations at a South Side animal feed plant that has been the source of hundreds of complaints over putrid odors for years.
Judge Thomas Donnelly granted a temporary restraining order in favor of the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the city of Chicago, which sued Pullman Innovations in August over the odors, alleging violations of state and city air pollution laws.
The business makes an additive in animal feed used by farmers who supply eggs to food company Dutch Farms.
In a statement Wednesday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the plant shouldn’t reopen until it “addresses the odors and air pollution and comes into compliance with Illinois’ environmental laws.”
The legal order bars the plant from operating until at least January 14, when a hearing is scheduled for Raoul and the city’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Operations would be halted until a final order is issued.
“Members of the community around the Pullman Innovations facility have carried too heavy a burden of environmental harm for too long, and I am pleased that they will finally have some relief from the foul odors that were interrupting their lives and harming their ability to enjoy their homes and neighborhood activities,” Raoul said.
A lawyer for Pullman Innovations parent company, A-F Acquisition, LLC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plant has spurred complaints since before Pullman Innovations took over, including some that stretch back decades to a predecessor company, Agri-Fine, which was previously sued by former Attorney General Lisa Madigan before it went out of business.
The Chicago Department of Public Health has previously ticketed Pullman Innovations multiple times for code violations. Illinois EPA investigators have also previously confirmed the smell both inside the plant and in the surrounding neighborhoods, at times making it hard for them to breathe.
One city inspector, whose testimony was offered in support of the restraining order, said he personally had conducted 160 inspections at the site and described the smell as a “foul rotten egg, sulfur odor” that “caused my nostrils to burn and gave me an acute headache.”
Some neighbors suggested to the Chicago Sun-Times in August that the overwhelming odor might have masked the smell of decomposing bodies at the South Chicago Chapel funeral home, which is currently under investigation.
