Federated Metals operated at the site from 1937 to 1983. The company was subject to a state enforcement action in 1985 and a pair of federal legal settlements that demanded an immediate cleanup. But for reasons still unexplained by state and federal regulators, toxic slag and other hazardous waste dumped throughout the property wasn’t removed until the mid-2000s.

Throughout the years, state and federal records show, regulators were more concerned about toxic chemicals leaching in groundwater than soil contaminated with heavy metals. There is no reference to residential testing in any of the historical summaries made public so far.

“This is another example of the EPA and the state of Indiana dropping the ball time after time again,” said Mark Templeton, director of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago, who has not been involved in the Federated Metals case but represents citizens in other regional disputes.

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