EPA Region 7 has awarded a contract to an Ohio firm to accelerate the cleanup of lead-contaminated soils at approximately 800 residential properties within the Madison County Mines Superfund Site in southeast Missouri. More than $9.8 million of the federal stimulus funds furnished by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 is being used.

Environmental Quality Management, Inc., of Cincinnati, has a two-year base contract period with one option year, and a maximum possible award of $13,915,694. Total ARRA funding for the contract is $9,885,000.

The funding will enable EPA to proceed with the cleanup of an estimated 800 residential properties at the site over a two-year period, with additional funding to clean up 200 more residential properties in the third year of the contract.

Madison County Mines Superfund Site is located in southeast Missouri near Fredericktown, in the Old Lead Belt where heavy metal mining has occurred since the early 1700s. Past mining operations have left at least 13 major tailings and chat deposits from mineral processing operations within the county. Wind and water erosion has moved the lead-contaminated material to residential surface soils, sediments, groundwater and surface water, posing threats to human health and the environment.
–EPA news release Sept 30, 2009.