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EPA hosts meetings on Evansville Superfund cleanup Feb. 4, 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m

Release Date: 01/26/2010
Contact Information: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, [email protected] Dave Novak, 312- 886-7478, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 10-OPA006

(CHICAGO – Jan. 26, 2010) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has scheduled two informational meetings about the upcoming lead-contaminated soil Superfund cleanup in Evansville’s Jacobsville neighborhood. Identical meetings will be held at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 4, at Evansville’s Vanderburgh Central Library, Browning Meeting Room A, 200 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The project is expected to begin in March.

During 2010, EPA plans to excavate and restore about 350 properties in an area bounded by Mary Street to the west, Iowa Street to the north, Elliot Street to the east and Division and Illinois streets to the south. The 2010 work is being funded through at least $5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The effort represents the second phase of cleanup at the Evansville site. In 2007 - 2008, EPA cleaned up about 80 properties with lead levels above 1,200 parts per million. (EPA’s residential lead cleanup level is 400 ppm.) As that effort wrapped up, EPA announced plans for the current work. A third phase of the cleanup will encompasses about a dozen neighborhoods in a 4.5-square-mile area north and south of the Lloyd Expressway near downtown Evansville. This expanded area includes about 10,000 properties that will be tested for soil contamination. EPA expects 4,000 may require cleanup. Work in this expanded area will begin in 2011 or 2012.

Several long-closed manufacturing companies used lead, arsenic and other metals in their operations, which has contaminated the soil. The site was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List in July 2004. The site area was later expanded when additional soil sampling identified more wide-spread contamination. Though the area encompasses a number of neighborhoods, EPA uses the Jacobsville name to describe the site.

The Federal Superfund program was created in 1980 to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. Superfund sites are often found in industrial areas hardest hit by the recession. Superfund cleanups are major construction projects which employ thousands of workers nationwide.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 17, 2009, and has directed the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at www.Recovery.gov.

For more information on the Jacobsville Neighborhood Superfund Site, please visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/eparecovery/jacobsville.html.

For special accommodations at the Feb. 4 meetings or other questions, please contact Dave Novak via e-mail at [email protected] or toll-free at 800-621-8431 (business hours). EPA has also established an Internet listserv for residents to receive Jacobsville site updates. To subscribe, send an e-mail to [email protected].

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