Lead and Arsenic Poisoning by U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery in East Chicago, Indiana over the last Century

Primary Sources:

United States, Congress, National Priorities List. U.S. SMELTER AND LEAD REFINERY, INC. East Chicago, Indiana Lake County , 2008. Regulations.gov, https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-SFUND-2008-0577/document. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021.

This is from the EPA and includes the basic information about the site from when this report was published back in 2008. The contaminants and potential impacts to the community are briefly explained. The database also contains many other EPA documents pertaining to the East Chicago site.

“USS Lead Sampling Data Maps.” Epa.maps.arcgis.com, Environmental Protection Agency, https://epa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=d45c8610b7364b8f931fdbb748d607c1.

This is an interactive map created by the EPA of the tested levels of lead in different areas of the superfund site. The data shows which lots in the site have how much contamination which helps show to the progress of the current cleanup operation.

United States, Congress, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Public Health Assessment for U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery Inc. (USS Lead) East Chicago, Indiana, 2011.
https://cfpub.epa.gov/ols/catalog/advanced_brief_record.cfm?&FIELD1=TITLE&INPUT1=USS%20AND%20Lead&TYPE1=ALL&LOGIC1=AND&LIBCODE=ELA&COLL=&SORT_TYPE=YRDESC&item_count=1&item_accn=536142

This is a report from the DHHS that contains information regarding the heatlh risks posed by the contamination and what should be done moving forward(page 20-22). The rest of the document contains detailed maps of the site, charts of children’s blood lead levels, and lead levels in specific properties.

Cross, Lauren. “’We Can’t Trust You People,’ Residents Living with Lead, Arsenic Contamination Tell U.S. EPA.” Nwitimes.com, 21 July 2019, https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/we-cant-trust-you-people-residents-living-with-lead-arsenic-contamination-tell-u-s-epa/article_1e7e7fb5-17ff-50e6-bd23-52f67c665d1f.html.

The residents of East Chicago attended a public hearing regarding the EPAs clean-up plan. Many residents protested the plan and said it did not go far enough and would hinder redevelopment in the future. The residents supported an alternative plan called 4D. After the public hearing, many including the mayor, have openly criticized and opposed the EPAs current cleanup plan and supported 4D. In 2019 the POTUS was Donald J. Trump, whose vice president was the former Indiana governor Mike Pence. It’s not a surprise that the residents didn’t trust the Trump administration when Pence refused to declare the USS Lead site an emergency while he was governor.

One resident named Joseph Dragovich was cited in the article as being “frustrated about the erosion of trust between residents and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, citing a decades-long delay in cleaning up the USS Lead Superfund site. “Why not just take all the soil out? It’s beyond me,” Dragovich said. “You know the trust around here is shot. You can tell people that you’re going to come back in five years and monitor and look at it, but around here, it’s a joke. We can’t trust you people. That trust was broken a long time ago. You’re not going to get it back … Stop playing games.” The public hearing seems to have changed official’s minds as well. The mayor openly sided with the 4D only after the meeting took place. “Mayor Anthony Copeland in recent months to EPA — in both writing and in private conversations — about his vision for the property, agency officials have said. Last fall, Copeland informed EPA Region 5 officials of talks he’s had with interested commercial and industrial developers, leading EPA to believe the site’s future may not be residential. But this month, Copeland appeared to have a sudden change of heart, and stated in a letter to EPA that he now sides with residents’ calls for new housing there, and pushed for Alternative 4D.”