EPA sends emergency response team to abandoned Wis. factory

SLINGER, Wis. — An emergency response team from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be dispatched to an abandoned factory in southeastern Wisconsin.

The team will begin the process of cleaning up the metal plating factory in Slinger where thousands of pounds of hazardous and toxic chemicals have been left behind.

EPA Superfund coordinator Jaime Brown and state and local emergency management personnel entered the factory Tuesday. Brown said the contents were a threat to public safety and requested an immediate response. The factory is surrounded by homes.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says contractors will being collecting samples of the chemical inside the drums and barrels on Wednesday to determine how best to remove them. A court-ordered inspection in August revealed several thousand pounds of highly hazardous chemicals, including nitric acid and sodium cyanide.