Lemont officials said they have reached out to representatives of Citgo following resident complaints alleging the company released high amounts of harmful chemicals in the air without notifying the public, and hope to get more answers at a Nov. 20 meeting.

The complaints are a part of an decades-long dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and Citgo facility near Lemont over alleged violations to the Clean Air Act, including an almost $2 million civil penalty in 2016, and a more than $700,000 fine for alleged Clean Air Act violations in 2013 following a failed compressor incident and dating back to an EPA citation in 2001.

Residents rallied at a village meeting Oct. 20 alleging the EPA documents revealed the company released 40 to 70 parts per billion of benzene into the air between April 27 and May 2, 2025.

Benzene is a chemical that can get into the air from emissions from burning coal and oil, gasoline service stations and motor vehicle exhaust, according to a 2016 EPA report, which classified the chemical as a human carcinogen. Short term exposure can cause symptoms ranging from drowsiness and dizziness to unconsciousness at high levels, according to the report. The report also connects long-term exposure with risks such as blood disorders, reproductive effects and leukemia.

Resident Amy Kelly based allegations on EPA data they received Oct 16 through a Freedom Of Information Act request with the EPA. The documents included fence line data, which is an air quality measurement from the perimeter of industrial facilities using an environmental gas chromatograph to monitor specific pollutants, between April and May 2025.

The benzene concentrations peaked at three points, on April 27, April 30 and May 2, reaching up to 70 ppb. At other times the data remained roughly under 10 ppb.

In the FOIA documents, EPA officials stated the benzene action level is 9 micrograms per cubic meter, which means that when concentration is above that level, as shown in the residents’ recent FOIA data, the facility is required to perform a root cause and corrective action analysis.

But this does not mean the benzene concentration is a violation of EPA regulations, officials said in the documents.

EPA stated data may also show benzene from nearby sources that refineries do not manage, such as neighboring facilities, roadways, airports, marine ports and from environmental events.

“Consequently, while this monitoring program is a reasonable means for a refinery to oversee its emission sources, there may be situations where the monitors identify benzene emissions that do not originate from the refinery,” the report read.

But residents said they were not notified of the recent high concentration of benzene in the air and have the right to immediate public notification when hazardous chemicals are released under the Emergency Planning and Community Right To Know Act, a 1986 federal law that requires facilities such as Citgo to report on the storage, use and releases of certain chemicals to help communities plan for and respond to chemical emergencies.

Lauren Cook, a resident and mother in Lemont, said at the Oct. 27 board meeting she appreciated some of the village’s efforts to address the benzene and said she hopes officials continue with that, but questioned how seriously the company is taking the issue.

“We need you to keep pushing for us because the squeaky wheel gets the work done so if it’s not squeaking we’re not going to get the oil,” Cook said. “We want to advocate for ourselves now and push for that transparency and push for making sure we are looking for the safety of our future.”

Village Administrator George Schafer said the village does not have the knowledge to confirm the accuracy of the residents’ data, and noted the Citgo oil refinery is not located in Lemont, “like many of the industrial businesses located west of Lemont in Will County,” he said.

The 1100 acre facility is at 135th Street and New Avenue in Will County, according to an EPA repor.t

But he said village officials understand residents have concerns. He said the village has continued to reach out to Citgo to share residents’ concerns over air quality and have invited them to a public meeting.

“We continue to communicate with the refinery as well as the Illinois EPA to ensure air quality safety for our residents and that reporting and notification requirements are met by those entities,” Schafer said in an emailed statement.

He said the Illinois EPA recently assured village officials that if there was a safety concern to residents, including those in Lemont, there would be notification of such issues. He said the Illinois EPA is responsible for monitoring such reporting.

Jen Hannon, public affairs manager for the Lemont Refinery for Citgo Petroleum Corporation, said in a statement Oct. 28 that while the company acknowledges community concerns about air quality, she emphasized some social media claims have misrepresented data.

She said the refinery meets all regulatory reporting requirements and keeps benzene levels below EPA limits, taking corrective action if levels rise. The company also joins local programs like the Odor Alert Network and a Community Awareness Emergency Response Council, made up of police, fire, other community leaders, and refinery leadership, to keep the community informed and maintain transparency, she said.

“The CITGO Lemont Refinery has been part of the local community for 99 years,” Hannon said in an emailed statement. “As a good neighbor, our operations are guided by our underlying values — we live and work here too. That’s why it’s important to understand the real data and facts surrounding our operations.”

“We will continue to monitor, report, and engage with regulators and community partners to provide accurate information and respond to questions promptly,” she said.

Schafer said Citgo officials recently told him they do take it seriously and will respond to many of the concerns. He said it’s not within the village’s jurisdiction to respond on behalf of Citgo.

Schafer said he along with Lemont police Chief Jason LoCoco met with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency officials virtually Oct. 28 to better understand notification protocol in response to issues with Citgo, such as equipment malfunctions.

Schafer said EPA officials assured them Lemont, along with the surrounding communities, would be notified through the Illinois Emergency Management Agency if there are safety incidents. He said if the village received these notifications, they were relay them to residents through the village’s local notification system.

Mayor John Egofske said he hopes the residents’ concerns can be figured out at a Nov. 20 meeting with the Lemont environmental commission, which Citgo officials said they would attend.

“Hopefully we can flush out the noise where people are giving their opinions on what they’re seeing,” Egofske said in October.

LoCoco said EPA-trained Tom Ballard, director of the Lemont Emergency Management Agency, investigates residents’ air quality complaints and tracks wind and pressure data. He said environmental chair Brian Reinke reviews complaint and monitoring data to explain findings to the public and emphasized the information is public and closely monitored, assuring residents regulators would act if serious issues arose.

The Citgo Lemont Refinery has faced several EPA enforcement actions for Clean Air Act violations, including improper emissions reporting and exceeding emissions. In 2013, Citgo paid a $737,000 fine and made improvements to reduce air toxics, and in 2016, it paid nearly $2 million in penalties and invested about $42 million in pollution controls.

The Citgo facility in Lemont, along with BP Whiting in Indiana and ExxonMobil in Joliet, have also received pushback from environmental advocates for allegedly releasing massive amounts of toxic chemicals and heavy metals into waterways with little oversight from government regulators.

These concerns arose in 2023 following the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project’s analysis of federal data.

“You have refineries that may look like they are complying with the law, but the standards are decades old and really don’t require very much,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and former chief of civil enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2023.

awright@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/lemont-citgo-refinery-air-quality/