Vol. 80/No. 40 October 24, 2016
Workers in Indiana protest lead poisoning in
their homes
AND JOHN HAWKINS
The 346-unit complex was built over the ruins of a copper smelter run by Anaconda, which went bankrupt long ago, and next to a U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery plant that closed in 1985.
On Sept. 1, Mayor Anthony Copeland announced the housing complex would be demolished, scuttling a federal Environmental Protection Agency plan to remove the contaminated soil. Tenants were told they had to leave by Nov. 1.
“I haven’t found a place,” Lavario Lucas told Fein. Lucas is a 31-year-old unemployed packinghouse worker with five children under the age of 10, all of whom have tested positive for lead.
“The lead and arsenic poisoning of children in this area is due to capitalism with its inherent thirst for profit,” Fein said. “When the smelters operated here, where were the safety provisions to prevent the soil from being contaminated?
“With lead and arsenic poisoning the soil and the smelters closed, why was housing built here? The health of people who would live here was not a factor.
“Only the working class — whose interests are human solidarity, not private profit — has an interest in protecting nature and ensuring safety on and off the job,” Fein said. “That’s why the SWP fights to unite workers to overthrow the dictatorship of capital and put a workers and farmers government in power.”
Like the majority of residents in the complex, Lucas is African-American. But many residents are Caucasian and Latino. “This affects 1,400 people in this complex alone,” he said. “The lead contamination extends beyond the complex.” The extent of the contamination came to light in May when the EPA released soil test data. The maximum lead level was 91,100 parts per million at a depth of 18 to 24 inches on the southwest side of the complex — almost eight times higher than the level the agency says requires emergency cleanup.
West Calumet residents demanding action from government officials, packed an Oct. 1 EPA meeting at the Riley Park Recreation Center here.
The EPA first became involved in the 1980s. A 1998 report shows the agency knew at least as early as 1997 of an even older lead factory demolished where the housing complex was built.
The EPA listed the roughly 400-acre USS Lead area as a “Superfund” site requiring cleanup in 2009.
“At the town hall meeting a few days ago, we asked why they’re still letting people move in?” Walker said.
Several dozen residents and supporters met Oct. 6 at the library to plan an action demanding extension of the Nov. 1 deadline, immediate release of deposits paid on their current homes and assistance in finding new housing.
Leroy Watson contributed to this article.
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