[CPEO-BIF] $1 Million in Keil Penalty Money Spurs Redevelopment of Superfund S

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Contact: Russ Grunden 
Phone: 317-232-8499 
Email: rgrunden@dem.state.in.us 
For Immediate Release: Jun 29, 2000 
http://www.state.in.us/serv/presscal?PF=idem&Clist=16&Elist=11044


$1 Million in Keil Penalty Money Spurs Redevelopment of Superfund Site 

The City of Hammond's environment and economy will get a $1 million boost
from penalty money collected from Keil Chemical's parent company, Ferro
Corp., for environmental violations.

The city will use the money to help clean up the 76-acre Industrial Fuel &
Asphalt (IF&A) brownfield site. Once restored, the property will be
available for economic development.

"It is rewarding when fines collected from those who pollute their
communities' air, water and land are reinvested in those communities," said
IDEM Commissioner Lori F. Kaplan. "Using penalty money to restore
brownfield sites like this one promotes a healthy environment and a healthy
economy, which are critical components of any community's quality of life."

Brownfields are abandoned properties that cannot be developed due to real
or perceived contamination. They tend to be eyesores that discourage
commercial or residential development near them. And their nonproductive
status deprives communities of much-needed tax dollars used to support
essential public services, like police and fire protection.

The Hammond cleanup site consists of two brownfield parcels: the 30-acre
IF&A site and an adjacent 46-acre plot known as the Myers' property. IF&A
was the 2,000th Superfund site to be identified in the United States.

When the fines were announced in 1996, then-Lt. Gov. Frank O'Bannon and
Gov. Evan Bayh pledged that the funds would be reinvested on environmental
remediation projects in the two communities. IDEM and East Chicago are
developing a project in that city.

The cleanup will be conducted under IDEM's Voluntary Remediation Program.
The program allows any site owner or prospective site owner to clean up
contamination with assurances that remediated areas will not be subject to
future IDEM enforcement actions.

"We are committed to improving quality of life in Indiana communities,"
Commissioner Kaplan said. "Returning this money to Hammond will provide
residents with a cleaner, healthier environment and create new recreational
and economic development opportunities."

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