Race, Poverty, Farming and a Natural Gas Pipeline Converge In a Rural Illinois Township

This story was previously published by the Chicago Sun-Times. Read the original here.

Five years ago, the mayor of Hopkins Park, a Black, rural community in Kankakee County, Illinois, argued for building an immigration detention center there to boost the economy. The people who lived there said: No, thanks. 

Mayor Mark Hodge now has another idea for new development in his town and the surrounding, historic farming community of Pembroke Township, south of Chicago. He’s backing a proposal for a pipeline, built by the utility Nicor, that would run through the area and, he hopes, bring with it natural gas and a boost to taxes and the local economy. And again, some residents are not pleased. 

“People here love the earth,” said Dr. Jifunza Wright-Carter, who farms 45 acres with her husband in Pembroke Township and promotes sustainable agriculture. “This natural gas pipeline has nothing to do with the wellbeing of our community. We don’t have to have it for our livelihood or economic development.”

Wright and her husband Fred Carter moved to Pembroke from Chicago about a dozen years ago, drawn by the history of what once was hailed as the largest Black farming community in the Northern United States. Through their nonprofit Black Oaks Center, they want to restore at least 1,000 acres there for sustainable family farming.

And the idea of a nearby pipeline carrying gas, especially at a time the world is moving away from fossil fuels, doesn’t mesh with their plans.

As many Illinois politicians talk about moving toward a clean energy future, Hodge has found support from U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Illinois, a number of state lawmakers and the Rev. Jesse Jackson to put more than 30 miles of natural gas pipeline in a poor, Black community in the name of economic development. It’s a debate that also has taken place elsewhere around the country.

To opponents who say it makes more sense to invest in renewable energy, Hodge said that’s too expensive. He pointed to one past estimate that it would cost $25 million to upgrade electrical distribution to allow for renewable sources.

He also said propane is too expensive an alternative.

Like many utilities that rely on fossil fuels, Nicor, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company, is in a race against time before supplies of those longtime energy sources are phased out. It touts its role in helping a disenfranchised community. 

Hodge agreed, saying he believes gas is the key to attracting business to one of the poorest areas of the state.

“Every community around us has natural gas,” the mayor said. “Every community around us has manufacturing. They have stores and more opportunity than we have. This is a disproportionately low-income, minority community.”

Jackson, in an opinion piece he wrote last year, said that a Pembroke pipeline “would help kick-start other development — and in turn create jobs and generate hope.”

‘We Inherited This Community to Take Care of It’ 

Hopkins Park sits inside the 52-square-mile Pembroke Township, which lies near the Indiana state line. People who live there rely on electricity, propane and, in some cases, wood-burning stoves for heat. The same is true for the broader township, though only residents of the five-square mile Hopkins Park and areas immediately around it would be connected to the gas line under the plan.  

Pembroke is the largest township in Kankakee County. Believed to have been a terminal for the Underground Railroad, it was founded in the late 1800s and had big growth spurts in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Today, though, the population of Hopkins Park and that of Pembroke Township are declining. And though, historically, Pembroke’s farmers grew hemp for the Navy in World War II and supplied food to Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland through the Great Migration, its Black-owned farming operations have declined. And that has left the communities’ governments desperate for tax revenue. 

Natural gas isn’t the only thing missing from Pembroke. The community of about 1,700 has no police department and no broadband Internet service.

It does have bumpy dirt roads and plenty of illegal dumping.

Residents say the sewer and water systems need to be improved.

Past efforts to attract businesses failed. The now-scrapped immigration detention center wasn’t the first prison to be proposed as a new idea for growth. Construction actually began on a women’s prison in 2002, but that project was nixed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. 

Johari Cole-Kweli moved to Pembroke around that time, inspired by the history of Black farmers who eschewed using chemicals that would taint the soil. In addition to farming—she grows vegetables, raises chickens and breeds goats and cows—she has helped lead a sustainability plan for the community, published last year with the help of the Field Museum in Chicago.

“We inherited this community to take care of it,” Cole-Kweli said.

In her view, natural gas “should’ve been put in or introduced to the community 40 or 50 years ago. A pipeline now looks like an easy solution, as opposed to doing what is right.”

The sustainability plan, introduced to the community in a town hall in March, calls for energy efficiency and sustainable food systems. 

“We think food is a regenerative economic model for Pembroke,” said Carter, who supports the sustainability plan and questions Nicor’s sudden interest in the community. “The old energy systems are fighting for their lives.”

The sustainability plan embraces a rare ecosystem. Conservationists say now-protected black oak savanna habitats in the area are one of the only remnants of what Illinois once resembled. Agriculture and development wiped out most of the natural habitat across the state. But a 2,000-acre refuge owned by the Nature Conservancy is home to endangered plant and animal species. 

More than 100 people participated in developing the sustainability plan, which calls for a number of quality-of-life and economic development opportunities, including repairing homes, providing support for farmers, alternative energy and weatherization, creating a recreational trail and supporting cultural and environmental tourism. The plan also champions small farms as integral to the community’s future.

Conservation areas can be a draw to the area in the future, the report concluded: “They indicate options for conservation-minded landowners who want to see this legacy preserved, and they can become destination sites for ecotourism and other ventures.”

Nearly 70 percent of Pembroke’s land is used for farming. But conservationists are drawn to its significant ecosystem, including the protected black oaks savannah.

To Move Into the 21st Century, You Have to Have Gas Lines

Hodge, the mayor, has contempt for conservation organizations, which have remained neutral in the debate over the pipeline, but have encouraged local efforts to preserve natural areas. He views the groups as a threat to the economic growth that has eluded Pembroke and Hopkins Park.

Hodge, a former Marine who was a captain of corrections officers in California, bristles at the mention of conservation, especially efforts related to a long-planned U.S. government refuge.

His concerns are echoed by the local office of Illinois Farm Bureau, which backs the pipeline plan.

Hodge said natural gas could help attract a company to a former food-processing site in Hopkins Park.

Janette Wilson, a senior adviser to Jackson, said natural gas is safe and clean and necessary. 

“In order for the town to move into the 21st century, you have to have gas lines for residents and for industry,” Wilson said.

But those arguments are unconvincing to Stephany Hammond, who worked on the sustainability plan and says the pipeline campaign has been misleading. 

“A lot of people are living the way they want—not because they’re poor and ignorant and have no choice,” Hammond said.

A lack of natural gas isn’t what’s keeping businesses and people from moving to Pembroke, she said.

“No company wants to come to a place where there’s no police department,” Hammond said. “Gas is not the top priority. I think we need Internet and electrical infrastructure.”

She and other opponents, who say they’ve been cut out of conversations over the project, question what the price to consumers would be and who would be hooked up to the pipeline. They also question the consumer surveys Nicor has conducted. 

‘Illinois is Moving Toward Renewables’

The utility estimates the 35-mile pipeline extension will cost almost $10 million and, under bills moving through the state legislature, would be paid by gas ratepayers across the state, as it’s serving a “hardship” area.

“Availability of reliable and affordable energy is essential for economic growth and job creation,” a written statement from Nicor said. “Lack of this basic infrastructure is also a safety and health hazard.”

State Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, who is a legislative sponsor of the Nicor project, says having a gas pipeline doesn’t preclude discussions about green energy.

“Illinois is moving toward renewables, no question,” Joyce said. “The people of Pembroke Township have been waiting for natural gas for 40 years.”

Joyce says he expects the Illinois General Assembly will pass legislation within the next two weeks approving the pipeline and send it to Gov. J. B. Pritzker.

The Nature Conservancy has chosen not to take a side on the pipeline. 

Michelle Carr, the organization’s Illinois director, said politicians should “consider community members’ voices to ensure a thorough public process and to consider vetting of renewable alternatives.”