EPA cleans up another 1,000 Omaha yards (Super Fund & lead)

[Omaha Steve]

EPA cleans up another 1,000 Omaha yards

Published Monday | November 19, 2007
EPA cleans up another 1,000 Omaha yards
BY NANCY GAARDER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

For the third straight year, the Environmental Protection Agency has worked at a record pace to clean up lead-contaminated yards in Omaha.

Today, crews finished digging up a yard near 28th Street and Poppleton Avenue, the 1,000th to be cleaned up so far this year.



Cleaning up that many yards three years in a row is a "remarkable achievement," said Bob Feild, EPA project coordinator. In no other community with lead-contaminated soil has the federal agency completed so many yards in one year, let alone three years in a row, he said.

Feild said the EPA is moving quickly because it considers the contaminated soil to be a significant health threat to children in eastern Omaha.

National studies have found that lead poisoning can affect a child's mental development and hearing and that it has been linked to behavioral problems.

So far, the EPA has spent about $100 million in Omaha on direct and indirect costs related to the cleanup. Indirect costs include scientific research, staff time and legal work.


FULL story at link.