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EPA awards $50,000 technical assistance grant to Cincinnati community group

Release Date: 08/28/2006
Contact Information: Mick Hans, (312) 353-5050, [email protected] Susan Pastor, (312) 353-1325, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
06-OPA149

CHICAGO (August 28, 2006) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has awarded a $50,000 technical assistance grant to the Friends of the Great Miami River, a community organization in Cincinnati.

The grant will be used to hire a technical advisor for the Armco Hamilton Superfund site in New Miami. The advisor will interpret technical data for the organization and act as a liaison between the group and EPA.

The site is composed of two parcels on 252 acres north and south of Augspurger Road in New Miami. Industrial use at the site dates to the early 1900s. Starting out as a coke plant, the property was also the site of iron, steel and road tar manufacturing. Now vacant, it was purchased by AK Steel in 1994 and subsequently blast furnaces, buildings and other structures were demolished.

Currently, AK Steel is conducting a study under EPA oversight to identify the types and amounts of contamination in the soil, mud (sediment), and surface and underground water on and near the former industrial areas. The study will also evaluate human health and environmental risks posed by the pollution.

Since 1989, EPA Region 5 has awarded 22 Superfund technical assistance grants to community organizations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

More information about the Armco Hamilton site is available at: epa.gov/region5/sites/armcohamilton/