Placing Sterigenics ahead of residents ‘speaks volumes’

It is with sadness and disgust that I learned of the decision brokered by Sterigenics, the Illinois EPA, Attorney General [Kwame] Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney [Robert] Berlin in which Sterigenics would be allowed to remain within our residential community and continue to spew ethylene oxide, an invisible and odorless, explosive, toxic gas and known carcinogen, into our midst.

Sterigenics’ plant in Willowbrook is responsible for some of the highest cancer risks in the nation. The decision to protect this polluter over residents speaks volumes.

I love my home and community, where I’ve been actively engaged for the past 27 years. But I love my family more. The question on many families’ minds – do we stay or leave?

It is Sterigenics that needs to move and conduct its business far from any residential neighborhood. Why is their business more important than our lives and property values? It is devastating that the Illinois EPA, Attorney General and the DuPage County State’s Attorney are not requiring this polluter to relocate.

Clearly, public health takes a back seat to corporate greed and possibly corruption. No one can bring back those who likely died at the hand of Sterigenics. Nor can the health of those suffering be restored.

I listened for hours at public meetings to a litany of pain and suffering. You brokers of this “deal” owe victims and their loved ones debts that can never be repaid instead of adding insult to injury, allowing Sterigenics to remain here as a monument to affliction.

Maureen Headington

Burr Ridge