Chicago: Mayor Brandon Johnson Announces the Full Restoration of the Department of Environment

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson today announced the complete reinstatement of the Chicago Department of Environment (DOE) as the final step—the transition of environmental regulatory authority to DOE—takes effect.

"From the beginning, it has been a key priority of my administration to restore the Department of Environment and its powers," said Mayor Brandon Johnson. "Chicago needs a strong, streamlined DOE to defend our most vulnerable communities from pollution, to fortify our neighborhoods' resilience to climate change, and to build a healthier city for all our residents. Today, following extensive collaboration across departments and with community, DOE is fully equipped to fulfill that mission."

Since the dissolution of the former Department of Environment in 2011, community members have consistently voiced ardent support for the reestablishment of the Department to ensure greater protection for Chicago residents from environmental harm.

In response, Mayor Johnson launched the multi-step process of restoring DOE during the 2024 budget process. The 2024 budget formally reestablished the Department of Environment, transitioning the Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Equity into the new department and Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar into the additional role of DOE commissioner starting in January 2024.

In 2024 and 2025, the Department took the next step: the building of DOE's policy, project management, communications, grant management, and administrative functions.

In January 2025, DOE also began working with stakeholders across the City to develop a transition plan for the final step of the process: the return of DOE's environmental remediation and regulatory functions. After over a year of careful planning, the first phase of the final step was initiated in March 2026, with the transition of the environmental remediation team from the Department of Fleet and Facility Management (2FM) to DOE.

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Today, the final phase comes to fruition with the transfer of the environmental permitting and inspection team from the Department of Public Health to DOE.

The transition of these two teams to DOE now centralizes the City's key environmental functions under one roof; with this consolidation, the City strengthens its environmental efforts.

"Today, we are proud to officially introduce the new Department of Environment, built upon a strong foundation of team expertise, guided by equitable principles, and steadfastly committed to environmental justice," said Angela Tovar, Chicago's Chief Sustainability Officer and DOE Commissioner. "With the new duties granted to this department, DOE now joins together policy, remediation, and enforcement within one, unified body. Now, DOE stands ready to advance environmental safeguards, lead efforts to turn contaminated land to new, productive uses, and cement Chicago's environmental leadership on a national and global stage."

The new teams now become the Bureau of Environmental Remediation and Bureau of Permitting & Inspection. The new teams' responsibilities include:

Bureau of Environmental Remediation

• Evaluates and ensures the regulatory compliance of environmentally significant projects undertaken by the City;
• Works to clean up contaminated, under-utilized industrial and commercial facilities and put them to productive use;
• Evaluates potential environmental effects of government projects, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Bureau of Permitting & Inspection

• Issues permits for work & equipment that could potentially pollute the air, soil, or water (e.g. aboveground and underground tanks; recycling facilities; waste-handling facilities; construction site rock-crushers; sandblasting; grinding; chemical washing; etc.);
• Ensures that permitted facilities comply with the conditions of their permits;
• Responds to residents' environment-related 311 requests.

At the same time, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), 2FM, and other City Departments will continue to play a critical role in the City's environmental work. One important example is Open Air Chicago, the country's largest community air monitoring network, which CDPH will continue to drive to equip residents with information about air quality and proactive steps they can take to protect their health.

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"Environmental health is public health, and I am incredibly proud of and grateful for the work this team has done," said CDPH Commissioner Olusimbo "Simbo" Ige, MD, MS, MPH. "While environmental permitting and enforcement work is transitioning, our commitment to identifying and mitigating threats to the health, safety, and wellbeing of all Chicagoans is unwavering."

Today's milestone became a reality thanks to the tireless advocacy and collaborative work of the City's community partners. Moving forward, community voices will continue to shape environmental efforts to ensure the protection of every Chicagoan.

"The Illinois Environmental Council is thankful to Mayor Brandon Johnson for fulfilling his campaign promise to restore the Department of Environment," said Iyana Simba, City Government Affairs Director at the Illinois Environmental Council. "This is a long-fought victory after years of advocacy from the environmental community. With an empowered DOE, Chicago can again carry out critical environmental policies and prevent continued pollution in vulnerable, overburdened Chicago communities"

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