By Tess Stynes
Atlantic Richfield Co. and DuPont Co. (DD) agreed to pay an
estimated $26 million in a settlement with the Environmental
Protection Agency and the state of Indiana for a cleanup of lead
and arsenic contamination in parts of an East Chicago, Ind.,
neighborhood.
According to the EPA and the Justice Department, yards in the
neighborhood were contaminated through industrial operations from
at least the early 1900s through 1985. Lead smelting and refining,
as well as other manufacturing processes that used lead and
arsenic, were located on and near the area that came to be known as
the Calumet neighborhood of East Chicago.
Atlantic Richfield and DuPont will pay for the EPA's work and
will be responsible for transporting the contaminated soil out of
the neighborhood and properly disposing of it.
Spokesmen for the companies couldn't immediately be reached to
comment.
In the consent decree, the defendants didn't admit any liability
tied to the allegations and didn't acknowledge the release or
threatened release of hazardous substances at or from the site
constitutes an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public
or the environment.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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