Preliminary work has begun to clean up a contaminated site in Ohio County. The EPA is targeting large amounts of arsenic discovered a year ago.
The full-scale cleanup on Shinkle Chapel Road won’t begin until next year, but the EPA this week began preparing the site by re-building a driveway to the property, constructing a staging area for personnel and equipment, and moving contaminated waste into a pile and covering it.
Art Smith is an on-site coordinator for the EPA’s Louisville office. He says the arsenic has been there for at least 50 years and the concentration is extremely high.
"The concentrations are up to 75 percent pure arsenic in some locations, which is quite a bit unusual for a residential property," Smith told WKU Public Radio.
It’s unknown how the arsenic got on the property, which has one unoccupied home. Smith says there should be no threat to the public. The contaminated area is surrounded by a fence, locked gates, and signage.