West Calumet Housing Complex

Residents in the USS Lead Superfund site in East Chicago are worried that flooding in May could have recontaminated their homes with arsenic and lead.

On Monday, the East Chicago city council voted 8-1 to allow the site of the former West Calumet Public Housing Complex to go from residential zoning to industrial.

The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its plan for the area where the West Calumet Public Housing Complex once stood in the USS Lead Superfund site.

Former residents of the West Calumet Public Housing Complex are upset with East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland's plans to let an industrial company move to where the housing complex once stood.

Members of the East Chicago Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group have asked the EPA for months to retest the property before cleaning it up.

More than 1,000 people were forced from the West Calumet Housing Complex in 2016 after tests found high blood-lead levels in children.

Due to the government shutdown, the EPA canceled a public meeting on the cleanup three weeks ago.

Residents are concerned about a contingency that allows the agency to use a less stringent cleanup plan if the city moves forward with industrial, instead of residential, redevelopment.

East Chicago residents say a public meeting on the USS Lead Superfund cleanup last week left questions unanswered and several people didn't get a chance to speak.

The agency estimates the cleanup project at the East Chicago's West Calumet Housing Complex will cost about $26 million.