EPA steps up lead cleanup in Chattanooga neighborhoods

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is stepping up costly efforts to clean up lead-contaminated soil in some of Chattanooga’s older neighborhoods after the pandemic caused a downturn.

EPA officials visited a handful of sites this week to see the progress of the initiative to sample more than 5,400 meters in eight neighborhoods from Alton Park to the Southside to Highland Park.

Jasmin Jefferies, EPA’s remediation project manager, said in an interview that door-to-door contact has increased as the coronavirus has subsided and the federal agency tries to alert neighborhood residents. on the lead problem.

“It slowed down with COVID,” she said. “We’re back on the pitch. We’re talking to the locals.”

Neighborhood soil has been contaminated over the past century from residue generated at more than 60 iron, brass and bronze smelters that operated in Chattanooga for nearly a century until the 1980s, officials said. .

Foundry sand from these plants was used as landfill and spread as topsoil on properties before lead was discovered and later regulated by the EPA.

Carol Monell, director of the EPA’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division in Atlanta, told a group of local, state and federal officials that the effort dates back to 2011 when someone showed up at a hospital in Chattanooga. with a problem and it was determined that the lead was in the soil of the dwellings.

“We’ll be here for a while,” she said.

Jefferies predicted that work at Chattanooga will likely continue through 2027 or 2028. New funds were included for lead remediation in the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, she said.

Federal officials projected the costs of the remediation work would total about $113.5 million. The infrastructure bill will help the EPA achieve more cleanups in a shorter period of time, Jefferies said.

She said the cleanup is essentially “a dig and haul operation”.

Last week, Tom Lewallen, who lives at 701 S. Greenwood Ave. in Highland Park, showed authorities his house where repair work had already been carried out.

He said someone showed up at his house in early 2019 and explained the lead testing process the EPA was doing in the neighborhood. Lewallen accepted the tests. Lead was found on the property and he decided to let the EPA do the remediation.

“It was a no-brainer,” he said in an interview.

Lewallen said that although no lead was found under his house, the removal work in the yard ranged from a few inches to more than a foot in places. Topsoil was then transported to backfill the site and new grass was planted, he said.

“I feel safe with children and grandchildren,” he said.

The neighborhoods where the EPA works are Alton Park, Cowart Place, East Lake, Highland Park, Jefferson Heights, Oak Grove, Richmond, and Southside Gardens.

So far, EPA figures show 2,526 meters have been sampled, nearly half of those targeted.

As of June 30, 432 sites had been cleaned up, according to the EPA.

The agency learned in 2011 of contaminated properties on Read Avenue, Mitchell Avenue, Underwood Street (formerly Carr Street) and intersecting streets after a resident was diagnosed with lead poisoning, officials said. responsible earlier. At that time, the state asked the EPA to help.

After clearing the properties, the agency began examining other sites in the area where dangerous levels of lead might be present. That’s when the EPA began testing for high lead levels at what became known as the Southside Chattanooga Lead Site, according to EPA officials.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.