EPA to spend $21 million on cleanup of Superfund site that spans entire Indiana neighborhood

February 26, 2008 - A federal Superfund site spanning an entire neighborhood with lead-tainted soils will be cleaned up as part of $21 million project that could take up to five years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.

Under the plan, the EPA will remove tainted soil from several hundred residential yards and commercial properties in the 141-acre Jacobsville Neighborhood Superfund site and replace it with clean soil. The tainted soil will be disposed of at a regulated landfill.

The EPA placed the site on its Superfund priority list in July 2004. Since then, the agency has conducted six rounds of soil testing.

It's not known how many people may have been affected by the contaminated soil, but EPA officials have said the risk of exposure is high.

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Nearby contamination has Indiana has residents concerned about their water

February 16, 2008 - Darlene Hendrix didn’t learn until early February that some residences northwest of hers had wells contaminated by perchloroethylene, an industrial solvent.

“It scares me because I’ve got my grandchildren living here. Nobody mentioned anything to us. You really don’t know what you’re drinking,” said Hendrix, who lives on North Fruitridge Avenue. “I just want to make sure everything is OK with our water and that it’s safe.”

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Tainted wells have Indiana residents concerned

February 6, 2008 - Dawn Langer operates a day care at 3723 Plum St., across Lost Creek and south of some homes that have shown well water contamination on Terre Haute’s north side.

She stopped serving children well water as soon as she learned about an issue with groundwater contamination, and on Wednesday, she had her well privately tested.

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Contaminated wells lead Indiana city to hire attorney

February 6, 2008 - The Terre Haute City Council has hired attorney Bill Drummy to assist with its continuing investigation of contaminated wells on the city’s north side.

So far, seven residences with wells have tested high for perchloroethylene, an industrial cleaning solvent. That includes two new sites, based on recent water sampling. Also, several of those that tested high previously now show even higher levels of PCE.

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Terre Haute Indiana residents want safe drinking water

January 8, 2008 - Some north-side Terre Haute residents concerned about their well water have received the latest proposal from Standard Register outlining how it will provide a safe drinking-water supply to the area.

The company is offering to connect up to 25 properties to Indiana-American Water Co.

Also, it will provide a lump sum payment of $3,400 to 12 of those property owners to offset future water bills.

The affected homes are southwest of Terre Haute North Vigo High School. Five of them have wells that are contaminated with perchloroethylene, an industrial solvent.

Residents have mixed reactions to the latest offer.

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Elkhart Indiana Residents Worry About Contaminated Water

December 28, 2007 - People living in an Elkhart neighborhood are still recovering from the shock of learning that their well water is contaminated.

The Geocel Corporation says they are responsible for the contamination and are currently working to fix the problem.

Anyone with contaminated water has been given water filters and water pumps to make sure the water is clean.

Then in the spring the company will pay to hook up more than 100 homes in the area to city water.

But people who live in the Meadow Farms subdivision say, that's not good enough.

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Five wells near Terre Haute Indiana show contamination

December 21, 2007 - Standard Register Co. says it’s taking steps to ensure a safe drinking water supply for some residents living near Terre Haute North Vigo High School whose well water is contaminated with perchloroethylene.

But Gary Truelove, one of the affected residents, doesn’t believe the company is going far enough. Truelove attended a meeting Thursday night in which the company outlined how it will respond to the contamination problem.

Testing of Truelove’s tap water showed perchloroethylene levels of 28.7 parts per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency limit for residences is 5 ppb. Perchloroethylene is an industrial cleaning solvent. Five residences tested above 5 ppb, a company representative said. In those cases, the company offered to connect the residences to Indiana America Water Co. and also to provide a $2,500 lump sum to pay for water bills for the next 10 years. In return, the company asks the residents to sign a release.

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Erin Brockovich law firm investigates chemical spill in Indiana

October 31, 2007 - A law firm is doing its own investigating to find out how badly a chemical spill contaminated the Wellington Northeast subdivision along Stony Creek in Noblesville.

Firestone admitted to a PCB spill that traveled from its plant, through Wilson Ditch, to Stony Creek and to the Wellington subdivision.

Some residents are working on a settlement with Firestone, which has committed to cleaning up the contamination.

Other homeowners have hired the environmental-law firm Masry and Vititoe to represent them in litigation against Firestone. The California-based firm is known for its depiction in the movie “Erin Brockovich.”

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Firestone says Wellington Indiana lawns contaminated by PCBs

October 22, 2007 - Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire is working with about 35 Wellington Northeast homeowners whose yards could have become contaminated more than 30 years ago.

According to spokeswoman Tina Gaines, an oil containing PCBs was used at the Noblesville plant from 1966 to 1972 to circulate around molds to cure rubber parts.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), PCBs are known to cause cancer in animals, are persistent in the environment and are known to bioaccumulate up the food chain.

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Contamination from closed mill looms over Indiana neighborhood

September 23, 2007 - Sprawling over acres of land along East Jackson Street between downtown Muncie and eastside neighborhoods, Indiana Steel and Wire sits like an ugly gray roadblock to efforts to improve and beautify the city's east side.

After a century of manufacturing springs, fencing and wire cable, the "wire mill" -- as it was popularly known -- was shuttered in 2002 after years of financial troubles and, ultimately, bankruptcy.

Since then, the only activity at the site has been ongoing clean-up of lead-laced toxic waste.

Eastside residents -- as well as former employees -- wish the facility was operating again.

Or at least cleaned up.

Until that happens, the site will continue to be an eyesore and a hindrance to eastside development, officials say.

"Until the environmental [contamination] is totally cleaned up, there's not a lot you can do with the property," said Terry Murphy of the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance.

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After seven years, Jacobsville Indiana to get cleaned up

September 18, 2007 - Cleanup of lead- and arsenic-tainted soil in the Jacobsville neighborhood Superfund site will begin in October, according to an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official. The announcement comes nearly seven years after the contamination was discovered.

EPA officials and Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel will announce details to the public at 2:30 p.m. today at Central United Methodist Church, said Mick Hans, a spokesman for the EPA region that includes Indiana.

Although it is unknown how many people may have been affected by lead from the contaminated soil, the risk of exposure is high, EPA officials have said. Lead poisoning affects the brain, nervous system and kidneys. High levels can cause behavioral problems, learning disabilities, seizures and possibly death.

While it can affect adults, children 6 years old and younger are most at risk because they are still developing.

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Neighborhood wells contaminated in Elkhart Indiana

August 7, 2007 - People on Elkhart's north side got answers Tuesday about growing concerns of water contamination in their neighborhood.

Geocel Corporation found a leak in old underground tanks earlier this year.

Tests show the leaking chemicals contaminated the drinking water in a number of nearby homes.

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Bankrupt Superfund

May 5, 2007 - The superfund, set up to pay for the cleanup of contaminated industrial sites, is not that super anymore. The dwindling fund is leaving the federal government with less money to clean up the large list of dangerously toxic properties throughout the country, including one in Fort Wayne.

The Center for Public Integrity recently released several reports that shed light on the peril that the slowing cleanup of toxic sites poses for Americans.

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Indiana Middle School Threatened by Contamination

April 29, 2007 - A metal coatings company has known for two years that dangerous chemicals have polluted soil and groundwater 200 feet from Memorial Park Middle School grounds but has not started a cleanup.

Wayne Metal Protection discovered a plume of tetrachloroethylene in the soil and groundwater beneath its facility at 1511 Wabash Ave., in September 2004 and reported the pollution to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Later investigations by the company found other pollutants either on or around the site, including trichloroethylene, cyanide, arsenic, lead and chromium, according to IDEM documents.

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Many Don't Know They are Living Near a Superfund Site in Indiana Town

April 16, 2007 - Health Department employees have received responses from people who didn't know they were buying property close to some polluted sites.

"A lot of people (selling property) don't disclose they are living next to a Superfund site," he said.

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Contaminated Wells in Indiana

NILES -- State environmental workers are hoping to uncover more information about a chemical that surfaced in the drinking water supply near a former Milton Township landfill last year. More . . .