Environment and Sustainability
low-level alert: Payment Portal
Department Mission
The Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability works to improve the quality of the environment for all residents of Cook County.
Mandates and Key Activities
- Enforce Cook County Environmental Control Ordinance
- Implement Illinois EPA cooperative agreements on pollution control, inspection
- Administer U.S. EPA, DOE and other grant agreements
- Permit and inspect industrial and commercial fuel-burning equipment, asbestos abatement, demolition, solid waste facilities, open burning and facilities that store hazardous chemicals for environmental compliance
- Investigate citizen complaints and ordinance violations
- Reduce waste in energy, materials and water
- Prepare solid waste plan for suburban Cook County
- Monitor air quality for the U.S. EPA
As of December 1, 2017, the Cook County Department of Environmental Control is now the Department of Environment and Sustainability.
Announcements
Certificate of Operation (COO)
Annual payment for a Certificate of Operation (COO) is required if your commercial or industrial facility operates any fuel-burning equipment, process equipment, storage tanks or air pollution control devices. All payments for your COO shall be submitted through the electronic permit processing portal. Further details can be found here.
The 2022 Certificate of Operation (COO) payment deadline has passed. Please contact certificateofoperations@cookcountyil.gov or call at (312) 603-8200 Option 4 if you have any questions.
Permits
You may apply for permits online – see the menu at right on this page. If you need help, email contact information can be found on each page.
Environmental Complaints
You may register environmental complaints by emailing environment@cookcountyil.gov or calling 312-603-8212.
Thank you for your patience.
COVID-19 Recovery Initiative
Cook County has launched a comprehensive initiative to provide economic relief to small businesses, non-profits, community service organizations and independent contractors (1099 workers) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here for more information: https://www.cookcountyil.gov/recovery
Sustainability in Cook County
Have you seen Cook County’s sustainability webpage?
At Cook County we want to lead by example. At the site you’ll find information about County projects to lower our environmental footprint and our costs.
Agency Head