January 7, 2019

Groups Seek New Investigation Into Indiana Contamination

The old Amphenol industrial site in Franklin. - Steve Burns/WTIU

The old Amphenol industrial site in Franklin.

Steve Burns/WTIU

Two groups are seeking a federal investigation about why toxic contamination persisted in an Indianapolis suburb decades after it was first discovered.

The Indianapolis Star reports the community group If It Was Your Child and the environmental nonprofit Edison Wetlands Association asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General in a recent letter for an investigation into contamination in Franklin.

An email from the EPA press office Monday says it didn't immediately plan a response to a request seeking comment from The Associated Press due to the partial government shutdown.

The letter says the EPA's handling of the site formerly used by electronics manufacturer Amphenol involved "serious mismanagement." Tests have confirmed groundwater and sewer vapors have cancer-causing chemicals at levels that exceed the Indiana environmental agency's safe limits.

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