EPA Completes Cleanup of Superfund Site

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 and the City of Cleveland transferred the Master Metals property, a lead smelter shut down by Ohio EPA in 1993, to the Northern Ohio Lumber and Timber Co.

A cleanup at the 4-acre site in Cleveland was completed in May. A group of more than 50 companies deemed responsible for the contamination paid for the work, which was supervised by EPA and Ohio EPA.

"The cleanup involved disposal of numerous truckloads of lead-contaminated soil and debris and tear-down of seven buildings," said Tom Skinner, EPA’s regional administrator. "It's a real brownfield success story: We originally proposed a cleanup plan in 1999, but the city and NOLTCO came up with a creative plan to approach things a little differently and look to future uses for the site."

Master Metals, which was closed by Ohio EPA in 1993 for numerous air quality violations, recycled lead batteries and other lead waste at the site beginning in 1979. Previously, NL Industries had operated a similar business on the property since 1933.