News Releases from Region 05

EPA proposes removing 671 East Chicago, Indiana, residences from Superfund List

For Immediate Release No. 20-OPA-059

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (July 8, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the removal of 671 cleaned-up properties at the USS Lead Site from the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). EPA will take public comments on its proposal from July 8 - August 7, 2020. 

To date, lead-contaminated soil has been removed from 95% of the 1,078 properties – mostly residential – in Zones 2 and 3 at the USS Lead Superfund Site. The agency has confirmed that 671 of these properties meet the cleanup level required by a 2012 federal legal agreement, as amended in 2018. These properties have no contamination at-depth and are cleared for residential use. No further action is necessary at these properties, and they pose no unacceptable risk to human health and the environment.

The remaining properties in Zones 2 and 3 will stay on the NPL until lead soil cleanups have been completed and confirmed. EPA continues to investigate possible groundwater contamination in the area.

“EPA is keeping its promise to the people of East Chicago to remove lead from their homes and to improve public health in their hometown by picking up the pace of this Superfund cleanup,” said EPA Regional Administrator Kurt Thiede. “And we will keep up that momentum in East Chicago until we finish the job at all the remaining properties.”

Residential properties removed from the USS Lead Superfund Site may be eligible for funding through the city of East Chicago’s Residential Repair Program. Delisting would also enable the city to redevelop vacant lots. 

The NPL tracks the nation’s most contaminated sites that threaten human health or the environment. Sites on the list are eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program. EPA removes sites or parts of sites from the list once all the remedies are successfully implemented with no further cleanup. Operations and maintenance, monitoring and five-year reviews continue as required.

EPA’s 30-day public comment period on the proposed partial delisting begins July 8, 2020 and closes August 7, 2020. The public may submit comments via:

Email: cibulskis.karen@epa.gov

Phone: 312-353-6284 (Please leave message with oral comment)

Online: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA_FRDOC_0001-25646

For more information: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/uss-lead-superfund-site

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