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EPA Finishes Slag Cleanup at Kokomo Site
10/15/2010 - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has completed the cleanup of the former slag processing area of the Continental Steel Superfund site in Kokomo, Ind., two years ahead of schedule due to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The cleanup effort was managed in consultation with Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has completed the cleanup of the former slag processing area of the Continental Steel Superfund site in Kokomo, Ind., two years ahead of schedule due to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding. The cleanup effort was managed in consultation with Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).
In April 2009, EPA received $5.9 million in funding via the ARRA to clean up two portions of the 183-acre Superfund site: the former slag processing area and contaminated ground water. The money accelerated hazardous waste cleanup already under way at this site. A total of 15 Indiana contractors or subcontractors were involved in the ARRA-funded work, creating at least 45 temporary jobs, according to EPA.
The slag processing cleanup started in September 2009, including moving about 86,000 tons of slag for use as fill at the acid lagoon area and grading, capping, and seeding the area. The land is now suitable for potential redevelopment. Recovery Act funds also are being used to treat ground water contamination sources, monitor and remove contaminated ground water, and send it off-site for treatment and disposal.
Prior to the new Recovery Act funding, EPA says it spent more than $66 million on cleanup activities at the site. IDEM has spent about $6 million. Previous cleanup work included tear-down of the main plant buildings and excavation and disposal of heavily contaminated soil and waste piles in that area, and dredging and disposal of contaminated sediment from the Kokomo and Wildcat creeks and Markland Avenue quarry.
Other current work at the site includes backfilling and capping of the Markland Avenue quarry, completed this August. The Acid Lagoon old water treatment plant—the last remaining structure on the site—was demolished in August. Acid Lagoon and groundwater remedial action is ongoing and is expected to be completed in 2012.
Continental Steel operated on the site from about 1914 to 1986 when it filed for bankruptcy. A major local employer, the facility produced nails, wire, and fencing from scrap metal. The site was added to EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List in 1989. The Superfund program was created in 1980 to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment.
