East Chicago Superfund site on list for accelerated cleanup

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) - Lead-contaminated neighborhoods in a northwestern Indiana city have been placed on a national priority list for accelerated cleanup work.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has included the USS Lead site in East Chicago among 21 projects slated for special attention under the Superfund program, which provides federal resources to deal with some of the nation's most-contaminated locations.

The EPA designated the area as a Superfund cleanup site in 2009, but residents didn't learn the full extent of the problem until East Chicago's mayor called last year for the relocation of more than 1,000 people from the West Calumet public housing complex. The area was the longtime location of a lead-salvage company that closed in 1985.

The EPA says no additional funding is assured by being on the priority list.