Indiana trying to address East Chicago lead contamination

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) - State officials in Indiana are taking steps to address a lead-contaminated area of East Chicago considered a Superfund site.

Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority spokesman Brad Meadows says the agency created a website that lists each order in an emergency declaration that Gov. Eric Holcomb signed this month. He says the authority plans to list status updates under each order.

The site also includes weekly updates on residence relocation efforts at the West Calumet Housing Complex.

State environmental officials say the East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy charter school is among the properties slated for soil sampling this spring. The school is a half-mile east of the former U.S. Reduction Co. site, a shuttered aluminum and lead smelter.

State and federal agencies are investigating lead contamination left by industry work.