The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investing $90 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to mitigate the last radium-contaminated area of the Ottawa Radiation Areas Superfund site in Illinois.
"Thanks to the unprecedented funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, completing cleanup of this site will permit the city of Ottawa to reclaim valuable land and transform it into a community asset for generations to come," EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said in the EPA's April 6 news release.
Shore made the funding announcement at the cleanup site, where she was joined by U.S. House Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) and Ottawa Finance Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut, the release reports.
Underwood said being a nurse informed her of how important safe environments are to public health.
“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which I am proud to have helped pass," Underwood said at the event, according to the release, "$90 million is coming home to clean up Ottawa’s last remaining radium sites and protect families from legacy pollution."
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Democrats, also praised the funding in statements emphasizing the investment's impact on community development, job creation and economic growth while ensuring a safe environment for children and families.
The EPA will use the $90 million to complete cleanup at the landfill on NPL-8, the last contaminated area of the Ottawa Radiation Areas Superfund site. NP8-L covers 17 acres along state Route 71, one mile east of Ottawa city limits, the release states. Soil contaminated with radioactive radium-226 will be excavated and taken for disposal at a licensed facility, according to the release, and the area will be backfilled and regraded to restore the site.
Cleanup work at NPL-8 is scheduled to begin in 2024, the EPA reports.
The superfund site overall consists of 16 areas contaminated by radioactive materials originating from businesses that used radium-based paint to produce luminous dials for clocks and watches from 1918 to 1937, according to the release. EPA has completed cleanup at 15 of the contaminated areas, and the remaining project at NPL-8 will complete the cleanup of the site.
"Ottawa families have been threatened by radium poisoning for far too long," Underwood said in the release. "Over a century after the Radium Girls began working in this community, I'm proud to see this funding help keep our community clean and safe."
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021, set aside approximately $1 billion for new cleanup projects at 22 Superfund sites and to expedite more than 100 other ongoing cleanups across the nation.
“The funding enables EPA to accelerate the pace of Superfund cleanups across the country," Shore said in the release, "and offers more communities, like Ottawa, new opportunities to thrive.”
