President Donald Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in early August dismissed a case against a recycling company that Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) said was targeted by the Biden administration and local officials in the name of “equity” and “environmental justice.” Instead, Trump’s HUD said they will focus on “real concerns.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said that it will no longer monitor a civil rights agreement with the city of Chicago, Illinois that called for both zoning and land-use reforms to limit the onslaught of polluting businesses in low-income parts of the South Side and West Side of Chicago.

WATCH — Jim Banks: Democrats Have Gone “Batsh*t Crazy”:

One case involved the relocation of General Iron, a car and metal shredding operation, to the Southeast Side of the city. Reserve Management Group (RMG) is the parent company of General Iron. In 2023, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed an agreement with the Biden HUD on her last day in office, and now-Mayor Brandon Johnson said he would uphold it.

The HUD reversed the Biden-era finding, saying they wanted to focus on “real concerns” about fair housing:

In that case, HUD is reversing initial findings that the complainants had made a valid argument that residents’ civil rights were violated because of the city’s policies allowing a discriminatory practice. HUD, the city and 10 affordable housing organizations seemed close to signing an agreement earlier this year.

In both cases, HUD sent letters dated Wednesday to the complaining groups using the same language explaining the decision to dismiss the matters. In separate letters, the agency said earlier decisions are being reversed and the agency is taking action as “a result of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to prioritize enforcement activities that address real concerns regarding fair housing.”

The HUD letters stated that they are handing back “decisions on zoning, home building, and more, to local leaders who are directly responsible for those matters.”

Mayor Johnson accused the Trump administration of backing away “from its responsibility to protect vulnerable populations from environmental harms,” stating he does not agree with “HUD’s decision to discontinue monitoring the civil rights agreement governing the location of heavy industry in Chicago.”

Sen. Banks in June wrote a letter, obtained by Breitbart News, to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and HUD Secretary Scott Turner about the “apparent and unjustified treatment” of Reserve Management Group by the Biden administration and the city of Chicago.

Banks wrote that Lightfoot and Biden EPA and HUD officials “took unprecedented actions to prevent RMG from opening a state-of-the-art metal recycling facility in South Chicago,” that would have supplied Indiana steel mills with metals to make new steel.

He wrote that, even though RMG worked with the city of Chicago on the proposed move, “Lightfoot decided to oppose RMG’s facility on the basis of equity and accused the company of racial discrimination and violating environmental justice.”

Banks continued:

Former US EPA Administration Michael Reagan reversed his agency’s position and even attacked RMG during a May 2021 press conference while standing outside its newly constructed facility. Additionally, in July 2022, the Biden HUD lodged a formal complaint against the City of Chicago for allegedly committing environmental discrimination and violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by approving the RMG plant. Under threat of withholding federal housing funds, the city signed a voluntary compliance agreement and then a consent decree denying RMG an operating permit for the new facility and barring its operations.

These actions by the Biden administration represent brazen overreach. RMG complied with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations imposed by multiple regulators in developing its South Chicago facility. RMG and other company should be judged on this basis not arbitrary, punitive standards. I urge you to thoroughly review EPA and HUD’s actions against RMG under the previous administration and take any actions you deem necessary to remedy this situation.

Anne Vogel, the U.S. EPA Region 5 Administration & Great Lakes National Program Manager, wrote back to Banks about the RMG issue. She responded, on behalf of Administrator Zeldin:

From a Clean Air Act perspective, EPA considers this project acceptable to move forward and has encouraged the company to continue working with the city. As the Administrator has noted, “any business
that wants to invest in America should be able to do so without having to face years-long, uncertain, and costly permitting processes that deter them from doing business in our country in the first place.”

Vogel added, “Although the previous administration encouraged the city to base permit decisions on ‘environmental justice’ considerations, Administrator Zeldin has made clear his commitment to serving every American with equal dignity and respect.“