Clark Oil Refinary

Blue Island residents and former high school students filed a class action lawsuit against the refinery over 10 years ago. The class included some 6,000 residents who lived near the refinery from 1993 until it closed in January 2001 and 1,200 former students and staff from nearby Eisenhower High School. The class claimed pollutants from Clark Oil created a nuisance and health problems. A Cook County jury has awarded a $120.1 million class action settlement. "Clark Refining and Marketing, which owned the 170 acre plant at 131st Street and Kedzie Avenue in Worth Township near Blue Island when the suit was filed in 1995, has since been renamed Premcor. Connecticut based Premcor Inc. was acquired this year by Texas based Valero Energy Corp., which presumably would be responsible for Premcor's liabilities." (Nov-22-05) [CHICAGO TRIBUNE]