State officials knew about lead contamination in Alabama community for three years before telling residents

June 22, 2007 - Concerns about lead contamination surfaced after officials with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency began knocking on doors, asking Lincoln residents who live around the First Avenue Park area if they could take soil samples from their yards.

Apparently, soil samples collected more than three years ago by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management showed high levels of lead and other metals in foundry sand scattered inside and outside the abandoned Lincoln Metals Corporation/Heartland Faucet site at 248 Foundry Lane.

Even though documents obtained by The Daily Home show that ADEM knew more than three years ago that there were high levels of lead contamination in the small Lincoln community, it failed to notify residents in that community or Lincoln city officials about the piles of hazardous waste.

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