Amy Silberman-Kelly, a 63-year old Lemont resident, stood at a village meeting podium Thursday with her blue glasses, a colored scarf and a long list of facts about air quality — a new topic for the full-time Realtor.
For months, she and a few other neighborhood moms who met on Facebook combed through Environmental Protection Agency air quality data. The moms are concered about the level of benzene coming from the 1100-acre Citgo oil refinery at 135th Street and New Avenue in unincorporated Will County.
They were joined Thursday by around three dozen other residents at a Lemont Environmental Advisory Commission meeting, which usually draw only five to 15 people, according to commission Chair Brian Reinke.
Residents demanded the village provide residents real time data and alerts about the level of benzene concentrated in the air so they could make informed decisions about their health.
“I’m not an environmentalist, I literally just care about my clothes and my nails and my hair and my dog, yet I’m coming into the meeting tonight with printed out information,” Silberman-Kelly said.
Reinke said while he wants an actionable solution, the data is complicated and quality monitors are expensive and hard to find. He said the volunteer-run commission’s funding is limited.
Citgo public affairs manager Jen Hannon said the company is committed to protecting communities, the environment and company workers. She said doing so starts with listening, and she said the company will host a series of discussions where experts would be on hand to answer residents’ questions.
Hannon spoke at the beginning and then left, which upset several residents and prompted an outburst from resident Casey Panek, who lost his 12-year-old son to leukemia in 2019. The cancer has in some cases been linked to benzene exposure by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer society.
No form of cancer has been linked to the refinery in Lemont.
Panek demanded company and village action and said he was disappointed the company official didn’t stay.
Jennifer Hannon, the Citgo public affairs manager, speaks Thursday at the Lemont Environmental Advisory Commission meeting. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
“We didn’t even talk about anything yet,” Panek said. “That’s a shame that she’s going. She was talking about it with a smile on her face.”
Lemont Mayor John Egofske said the village will host several workshops to get answers because the data is very confusing.
Under the EPA refinery sector rule, the facility’s benzene concentration data is meeting federal guidelines, which do not require the company to take action, according to Keene Kelderman, a research manager at the nonprofit Environmental Integrity. The rule requires the company to conduct a root cause analysis if the annual rolling average of benzene concentrations exceeds 9 micrograms per cubic meter.
Lemont residents Elizabeth Panek and Casey Panek demand action at a Lemont Environmental Advisory Commission meeting Thursday following air quality concerns relating to a nearby Citgo facility. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
As of June 24, 2025, the Lemont refinery’s rolling average of benzene concentration was at 7 micrograms per cubic meter. The refinery reached its highest number in this measurement in June 2023, at 8.9 micrograms per cubic meter, but has not exceeded the threshold in at least five years, according to Environmental Integrity analysis of EPA data.
But Kelderman and Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said the benzene levels are still highly concerning to public health, and it’s important for residents to be informed, no matter the levels.
“Workers at oil refineries and community members who live nearby have a right to know what’s in the air they breathe and to receive timely warnings if they are being exposed to dangerous levels of benzene, a carcinogen,” Duggan said. “The Citgo Lemont refinery should continuously monitor and share benzene data with the community in real time so that residents can make informed decisions about their health.”
The 1100-acre Citgo facility at 135th Street and New Avenue near Lemont. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Alan Ducatman, a health sciences professor at West Virginia University who studied occupational and environmental toxicity and prevention of diseases potentially related to environmental exposures, said elevated concentrations can be especially concerning for certain groups.
He said there are naturally occurring amounts of benzene in the air, but it could be problematic to expose children, pregnant women, elderly individuals and people who have already struggled with leukemia to elevated levels of benzene. He said this list is not complete.
Ducatman also noted exposure can create an emotional toll. He said in his research he witnessed people who have been exposed to environmental chemicals worrying about their children and feeling guilty.
He said in some cases, individuals decide to move, which can be a tough undertaking, as owning a home is a major investment. Even tougher, he said, is when when the pollution causes the property value to decrease.
Silberman-Kelly said it’s been a tough decision on whether to stay in her home off of 167th street near the Citgo refinery. She said she moved into the house in 2017 for a quiet place for her children and has built valuable memories. Now that her children have grown up, she said it’s nice to have a place for them to stay when they come home.
But even if she wanted to move, she said the costs are too high. She said she has looked at homes that are half her space but double the price. Moving would also mean leaving her community, she said.
Brian Reinke, chairperson of the Lemont Environmental Advisory Commission, listens to residents during Thursday’s meeting. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
“It’s perfect for me, I mean I love it here,” she said. “It’s so quiet, and there’s a million things I love about it, but do I love it more than my health?”
Several village officials said Thursday they’re determined to get answers to the residents’ concerns. Reinke said the advisory committee will continue researching solutions that it can present to the Village Board.
Hannon, the Citgo spokesperson also said the company events with experts to answer resident questions will be held at 6 p.m. on Dec. 16, 1 p.m. on Dec. 17 and 6 p.m. on Jan. 6 at the Big Run Golf Club on West 135th Street in Lockport.
She said due to meeting space and to better facilitate discussions, attendants will be limited to 35 people. Residents can sign up and submit questions by contacting her at jhanno1@CITGO.com or 630-296-2959.
awright@chicagotribune.com
