High levels of manganese found at Chicago storage facility.

CHICAGO (AP) - Federal officials say that air monitors recorded dangerous levels of brain-damaging manganese near a storage facility on Chicago's Southeast Side.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the high manganese levels at Watco Transloading were found by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this fall as part of a probe of companies that supply raw materials to steel mills in Northwest Indiana. The investigation was launched four years ago when federal officials examining sites in the area that stored piles of petroleum coke along the Calumet River found high levels of manganese.

The most recent readings that were taken within a mile of the homes of nearly 4,000 people forced Watco to become the latest company in the area to install equipment that measures heavy metals such as manganese and lung-damaging soot.