Event to mark end of south Minneapolis arsenic cleanup

Updated: June 2, 2012 - 10:23 PM

hide

In 2007, a front end loader moves around black dirt outside a home near 28th Street and 14th Avenue S. in Minneapolis as part of the arsenic cleanup.

Photo: David Joles, Dml -

Camera Star Tribune photo galleries

Camera view larger

1
comments
resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

The Environmental Protection Agency has finished its cleanup of contaminated soil in the Seward and Longfellow neighborhoods in Minneapolis and will hold a public ceremony marking the occasion.

The event will take place at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the East Phillips Community Center, 2307 17th Av. S.

From 1938 to 1963, Reade Manufacturing received, mixed and stored arsenic-based pesticides at the corner of Hiawatha Avenue and 28th Street. Another company, U.S. Borax, leased the site from 1963 to 1968 and stored pesticides on the property. The arsenic wafted off the site and drifted into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Arsenic can cause cardiovascular and nerve problems, as well as cancer. The EPA began the process of removing contaminated soil from nearby neighborhoods in 2004, and announced in November that the cleanup was complete.

The agency replaced 470 yards of soil in which arsenic levels were above 25 parts per million.