THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9408310114
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 28 lines
The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its proposal for cleaning up lead at the former Abex Lead Foundry and surrounding sites, including the Washington Park public housing complex.
An EPA spokesman, Harold Yates, said the federal agency will begin negotiating with Abex, the city and other potentially responsible parties on when to begin and how to conduct the cleanup.
Currently, the proposal says that the city will buy and demolish homes near the Abex site. The EPA will remove the soil in the area down to the water table and replace that with clean soil, Yates has said.
The city plans to build a police complex and parking lot where the soon-to-be demolished homes now stand.
Residents of Washington Park will be moved into temporary homes while the cleanup is underway. Once the cleanup is complete, residents will move back into the public housing complex. Several residents of Washington Park have asked for permanent relocation and for the housing complex to be demolished. by CNB