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EPA to Restart Work on South Minneapolis Superfund Site; Open Houses Planned for April 20-21

Release Date: 04/14/2011
Contact Information: Jayna Legg, 312-353-0562, [email protected]; Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, [email protected]

For Immediate Release
No. 11-OPA033

(CHICAGO – April 14, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will host two open houses April 20-21 to discuss the cleanup of arsenic at the South Minneapolis Residential Soil Contamination site. The first open house will be from 5 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, at the East Phillips Park Community Center, 2307 17th Ave., South. The second open house will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, April 21, at the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, 3451 Cedar Ave., South.

Work is set to begin in May. EPA and its contractors plan to clean up about 100 properties by the end of the year, which will close out the multi-phased project. The site is centered on the intersection of Hiawatha Avenue and 28th Street in South Minneapolis, fanning out in a circle with a radius of about three-quarters of a mile. From 2004 to 2008, EPA cleaned up almost 200 properties with arsenic levels that posed a threat to children. In 2009, up to $25 million in Recovery Act funding was provided to EPA to complete the cleanup of almost 500 additional residential properties with lower levels of arsenic contamination.

The yards were contaminated by arsenic from CMC Heartland Lite Yard, site of a pesticide formulation plant that was previously cleaned up by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. To reduce the risk from arsenic exposure, 12 to 18 inches of topsoil from affected residential yards will be removed and replaced with clean soil. In some cases EPA may remove more soil if testing shows deeper arsenic contamination. The contaminated soil is trucked to an off-site, licensed landfill for safe disposal.

For more information, contact the EPA’s community involvement coordinator, Cheryl Allen, at [email protected] or call 800-621-8431, Ext. 36196, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., weekdays. Information is also available online at http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/cmcheartland and at the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization at 3451 Cedar Ave., South.