EPA Adds Two Illinois Sites to Superfund National Priorities List
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Chemetco site, a closed copper smelter in Hartford, Ill., and the Lake Calumet Cluster site in Chicago, to the Superfund National Priorities List. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites in the U.S.
The Chemetco site is on Illinois Route 3 in Madison County, about 2 mi south of Hartford. It was a secondary copper smelter from 1969 to 2001 before filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. More than 500,000 cu yds of processing slag, sludge and other hazardous materials were left on portions of the 41-acre site.