For the children living in the federally funded West Calumet Housing Complex, the skies are blue, the grass is green and the soil in which they’re playing on is more lead-infested than ever.
I’d have to agree with the Washington Post calling it “the next Flint.”
The fact of the matter is that toddlers put just about everything they can get their hands on into their mouths. When playing outside, dirt is perhaps the most accessible thing.
In the 1920s, the U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery, Inc., occupied a 79-acre tract of land in East Chicago, Lake County, Indiana, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
In addition to lead smelting, the site also dealt with copper, silver and a secondary smelter for recovering lead from scrap metal and automobile battery extraction. A large stockpile of lead-containing flue dust also covered a three-to-five-acre area. None of this sounds kosher to me.
The dust was eventually removed in 1992. Seven years later, the Corrective Action Management Unit was built in order to demolish buildings and bury the lead-infested soil.
In 2011, ASTDR estimated that around 11,818 individuals occupied the mile radius of the former worksite, blindly living on top of a graveyard of toxins.
It wasn’t until this May that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided to inform East Chicago mayor Anthony Copeland that the top six inches of soil in the yards of families living in West Calumet had up to 30 times more lead than the level considered safe for children to play in.
This is where shit hit the fan.
At the end of July, the Housing Authority announced the impending demolishment of the 346-unit complex, displacing about 1,000 individuals, a majority of them children.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is allocating $1.9 million to relocate the frazzled residents.
In an editorial published by the Times of Northwest Indiana, it is clear that they were infuriated by the lack of transparency of the EPA, who, up until May, hadn’t informed the mayor of these tests at all.
“Was it wise to build a school in an area already known for industrial contamination? Even decades ago, was it appropriate to locate a low-income housing complex in a former industrial site where contamination, at least to some degree, was known?”
Currently, citizens of East Chicago are being tested for lead. According to AP, out of the 400 preliminary blood tests, 29 came back with high levels, 21 of which were children under the age of six.
This is unacceptable and more importantly, avoidable.
What causes civic planners and leaders to completely avoid looking down the rabbit hole of future complications – like building affordable housing on the grounds of a former leadplant?
Doing things because they’re cost effective or convenient for the time being isn’t going to fly anymore. State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, a resident of East Chicago told the AP, “someone dropped the ball somewhere.” This cannot be an excuse.
Let’s not forget, this problem isn’t going to go away anytime soon. The children will be haunted by the negligence that has occurred, and it’s time that we make those responsible for this tragedy accountable for their deplorable actions.
