Overview
- A Cook County judge granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday that stops Pullman Innovations from operating at least until Jan. 14, 2027 while the Illinois Attorney General and the City of Chicago press for further injunctions.
- State and city lawsuits filed in August accuse the plant of excessive odors, illegal air pollution, building an unpermitted natural gas boiler, and violating its operating permit.
- Attorneys for the state and city have asked the court to require a written remediation plan and to force the fast installation of an air pollution control device that the company received a permit to build in June 2026.
- Inspectors and neighbors have reported decades of foul smells that have at times made inspectors have trouble breathing and given residents headaches and nausea, and federal regulators told the company in 2022 it violated the Clean Air Act.
- A parallel 2023 private suit by Oscar Ortega was certified as a class action for roughly 2,400 households and has upcoming hearings that, together with the government case, could determine long-term cleanup, shutdown orders, and liability for residents and nearby businesses.