[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/...ce55e3f56d.html

More at link

MICHIGAN CITY | Soil containing high levels of arsenic near homes in The Pines should be cleaned up soon, but an exact timeline remains unknown.

That was among the new pieces of information shared Thursday night by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the effort, at a public meeting in Michigan City.

Residents including Jackie Wingo expressed frustration after she said they were led to believe last winter removal of the contaminated soil would begin prior to summer.

"If it was so important back in the spring why is it still not done?" said Wingo, who among the 50 people in attendance at the Clarion Hotel along U.S 421.

Of the 48 residential properties surveyed in November, coal ash from the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. generating station in Michigan City was found on nine of the parcels and seven to those contained unsafe levels of arsenic, said Jacob Hassan, of the EPA Region 5 office out of Chicago.

Another seven properties also contain arsenic-tainted coal ash, said Nick Meyer, a spokesman for NIPSCO, which is paying for the cleanup.

Coal ash from the 1970s was taken to various locations, including the Town Hall in The Pines, by contractors hired by NIPSCO.