EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) _ The federal government has reached a proposed settlement under which two companies will pay for an estimated $26 million cleanup of lead and arsenic contamination in an East Chicago neighborhood.
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the deal Wednesday with Atlantic Richfield Co. and DuPont. A federal judge still must approve the settlement following a public comment period.
But EPA Regional Administrator Susan Hedman says the deal “ensures that almost 300 residential properties, parks and public spaces in East Chicago will be cleaned up.''
The federal agencies say yards in East Chicago's Calumet neighborhood were tainted with lead and arsenic during industrial operations spanning from at least the early 1900s through 1985.
That tainted soil will be excavated, removed and replaced with clean soil.
