The city of Chicago and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul are suing Pullman Innovations over odors.
According to the lawsuit, the smell from Pullman Innovations’ vegetable oil plant have prompted nearby schools to cancel recess and homeowners to stay indoors with their windows shut.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had referred the issue to the state attorney general’s office after the plant’s owners “allowed excessive odors, caused illegal air pollution, constructed a boiler without a permit that could cause or contribute to air pollution and violated certain conditions of the operating permit at its Chicago facility,” the attorney general’s office and City Hall said.
In 2024, city inspectors corroborated the overbearing odor. Pullman Innovations at 100th Street and Torrence Avenue was part of a 2023 Chicago Sun-Times investigation that found city citations were doing little to thwart polluters.
“Residents in the community surrounding the Pullman Innovations facility should be able to enjoy their lives and homes without having to endure the foul odors coming from the company’s operations,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “The company needs to address the odor issues and air pollution and ensure that its operations comply with Illinois’ environmental laws.”
Pullman Innovations didn’t respond to a request for comment.
City inspectors described the entrance of the facility as having a “very strong odor that could best be described as rotting fish/decay of flesh” that made them “not want to breathe and made us nauseous,” according to a fall 2024 city report.
Some nearby residents previously told the Sun-Times they thought the issue would stop when A-F Acquisition LLC took over the plant in 2016. Previous owner Agri-Fine was sued by then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan after being cited for violations.
In December, about 2,400 homes whose residents have lived near the plant since 2018 were sent notice of a lawsuit seeking an undetermined cash settlement over the smell.