News Releases from Region 05

EPA announces $26.6 million cleanup settlement at former DuPont/Chemours plant in East Chicago, Ind.

For Immediate Release No. 18-OPA068

CHICAGO (Nov. 16, 2018) --Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the current and previous owners of the former DuPont chemical manufacturing plant at 5215 Kennedy Ave., East Chicago, Ind., have agreed to a $26.6 million cleanup of the facility. 

“Cleaning up the former DuPont/Chemours facility will improve public health, protect the environment and help enhance the quality of life in East Chicago, Indiana,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Cathy Stepp. “Today’s agreement demonstrates the Trump EPA’s strong commitment to restoring contaminated land so it can be returned to safe and productive use in the community.”

E.I. du Pont Nemours and Company, Chemours Company FC, LLC, and East Chicago Gateway Partners, LLC have agreed to conduct the cleanup under a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) order. Work is expected to begin in 2019.

Arsenic, lead, cadmium and zinc are the primary contaminants at the former DuPont facility. In response to community concerns, EPA’s cleanup plan includes the off-site disposal of soils containing high metals concentrations that are contaminating groundwater.

The cleanup settlement also requires groundwater treatment and monitoring, closure of a solid waste landfill, maintenance of barriers to prevent contact with contaminated soils, implementation of EPA-approved soil management plans and health safety practices, and establishment of other protections for facility workers and the community.

The former DuPont/Chemours plant is located directly south of Zone 3 of the USS Lead Superfund site, a residential area where a separate federal cleanup is currently in progress.  The nearly 450 acres of the former DuPont facility encompass not only former manufacturing areas but also a 172-acre natural area that contains a rare dune and swale ecosystem covered by an Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation easement. 

For more information: https://www.epa.gov/in/hazardous-waste-cleanup-dupont-facility-east-chicago-indiana

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