Properties contaminated with arsenic are added to Superfund list

Updated: September 19, 2007 - 8:59 PM

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Properties in south Minneapolis that were contaminated by a former pesticide plant have been added to the national Superfund list.

"It opens up a much larger chunk of money for EPA to deal with the problems," said Tim Prendiville, project manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The south Minneapolis site includes portions of several neighborhoods near 28th Street and Hiawatha Avenue, where a plant manufactured or stored pesticides between 1938 and 1968. Some of the pesticides contained arsenic that likely blew into people's yards and contaminated the soil.

Since 2004, about 200 yards within a three-quarter-mile radius of the former plant showed high concentrations of arsenic, and the EPA has used emergency funds to clean them up. Prendiville said that 160 properties will be finished by the end of next month, with the remainder scheduled for 2008. Another 500 yards showed medium levels of arsenic in the soil, and the agency will need additional funds if officials decide that some of them also need to have soil removed.

State health officials have said that the neighborhoods face little risk from the arsenic because most of the contaminated soil is beneath lawns and other landscaping.

TOM MEERSMAN