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Hi,

I realize that most of you are environmentally aware on this site.  I myself am an avid biker.  I took up this cause because I believe that everyone deserves a clean place to live and thrive.  I am not politically motivated, nor motivated by profit, nor motivated by any personal ambitions, nor do I represent any group.  I am simply standing up for the community where I was born and raised.  The southeast side community of Chicago is a diverse, hard-working, blue-collar community on the southside of Chicago.  The people of these neighborhoods have contributed more than their fare share of hard work, many giving their lives for this country.  Some of the highest casulties of the Vietnam war were the people of the southeast side.  Now home to many abandoned steel plants, this is a community that has been plagued by years of polution and has seen above average rates of cancer and respiratory illnesses.  Now that the jobs are gone, the people are left with little or no voice. 

In steps Koch Industries.  While providing little jobs, they have found the southside of Chicago the perfect dumping ground for their petcoke byproduct.  Petcoke is a byproduct of refining darker Canadian Oil at the BP plant in Whiting, IN.  Due to the EPA regulations in IN requiring petcoke to be contained by at least four sided walls, BP has decided to ship it to the IL side for storage at the KCBX storage sites along the Cal Sag channel.  It is then shipped to China to be mixed and used as an alternate to coal.  While it is significantly cheaper than coal, it is nearly 3 times as dirty.  It is not allowed to be burned here due to the EPA regulations.

The petcoke is stored in the open air, blowing around the southside community.  It is contaminating the air and the water.  The petcoke piles have been stacked nearly 4 stories high at the mouth to Lake Michigan, thus far.  It is a respiratory irritant, causing asthmatic symptoms and the chemical handling instructions warn not to contaminate water resources and even groundwater.  It was kicked out of Detroit, and its not allowed to be stored in this manner in Indiana.  Why are we subject to this poison?  In addition, BP is set to triple it's production of petcoke in the coming year.

That's why I created a petition to Koch Industries, The Illinois State House, The Illinois State Senate, Governor Pat Quinn, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama, which says:

"Sign on to petition Mayor Rahm Emanuel to protect Lake Michigan and surrounding community from the pollution of exposed piles of petcoke.  Koch is bad for your health."

Will you sign this petition? Click here and please share:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-petcoke-contaminati?sourc...

Thanks!

Rob Esquivel