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Lindsay Light Co. Sites

Site Information
  • Chicago, IL (Cook County)
  • There are several Superfund sites associated with Lindsay Light Company
Lindsay Light I
  • 161 East Grand Avenue
    Chicago, IL
  • EPA ID# ILN000509092
  • CERCLIS listing
  • non-NPL
Lindsay Light II
  • 316 East Illinois
    Chicago, IL
  • EPA ID# IL0000002212
  • CERCLIS listing
  • non-NPL
Lindsay Light II site /RV3 North Columbus Drive
  • also known as Grand Pier
  • 200 block of East Illinois Street directly across the street from Lindsay Light II
  • EPA expanded the Lindsay Light II cleanup project to included the North Columbus Drive property
Contact Information

Community Involvement Coordinator
Susan Pastor (pastor.susan@epa.gov)
312-353-1325 or 800-621-8431, ext. 31325

On-Scene Coordinator
Verneta Simon
(simon.verneta@epa.gov)
312-886-3601 or 800-621-8431, ext. 63601

Senior Health Physicist
Gene Jablonowski (jablonowski.eugene@epa.gov)
312-886-4591 or 800-621-8431, ext. 64591

Office of Regional Counsel
Attorneys
Mary Fulghum (fulghum.mary@epa.gov)
312-886-4683 or 800-621-8431, ext. 64683

Cathleen Martwick (martwick.cathleen@epa.gov)
312-886-7166 or 800-621-8431, ext. 67166

Repositories

(where to view written records)

Harold Washington Library Center
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State St.
Chicago, IL

EPA Superfund Home Page
Region 5 Superfund
Superfund Frequent Questions

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

Kerr-McGee Superfund Sites

Thorium

Chicago Department of Public Healt* Exit EPA Disclaimer

Apply for a Streeterville Right-of-Way or Property Permit Exit EPA Disclaimer

Illinois Emergency Management Agency: Dept. of Nuclear Safety Exit EPA Disclaimer

Chicago Park District Exit EPA Disclaimer

The Lindsay Light Company refined radioactive thorium ore and manufactured incandescent gaslight mantles for home and street lighting at several addresses in Chicago's downtown Streeterville neighborhood until the mid 1930s. The ore refining process created a radioactive sandy material that was used as fill in Streeterville and Lakeshore East. Lindsay Light refined the radioactive ore to produce liquid thorium nitrate used to make their gaslight mantles glow more brightly.

EPA first discovered thorium contamination at Lindsay Light's former 316 East Illinois St. location in 1993. Further investigations have discovered thorium contaminated soil at more than a dozen locations. Thorium contaminated soil is not considered to be an immediate threat to human health and the environment if it is covered by an intact hard surface of sufficient thickness such as concrete or asphalt. Fortunately, almost all locations in the Streeterville neighborhood were covered by hard surfaces.

To protect human health and the environment, EPA and the City of Chicago developed a system requiring anyone planning to dig in Streeterville or even remove asphalt or concrete to monitor and test the soil for radioactivity. (read complete background)

Site Updates | Current Projects | Fact Sheets || Technical Documents | Legal Agreements || Radiation Reports

You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Site Updates

Current Projects

Future DuSable Park

The small parcel of land proposed to become DuSable Park is a 3.5-acre peninsula just east of lake Shore Drive between the Chicago River and the Ogden Slip. The parcel was donated by developers in the late 1980s and is now owned by the Chicago Park District. Once developed, the park is expected to be dedicated to Chicago's first non-Native-American settler: Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a French and African American entrepreneur from the island of Haiti who lived and operated a trading post at the mouth of the Chicago River from 1779 to about 1800.

In early 2012, the Chicago Park District received approximately $250,000 in funding from EPA through a cooperative agreement to perform a cleanup of areas on the DuSable Park site that were known to be contaminated. This summer, contractors for the park district, with EPA oversight, excavated, bagged and staged for removal (see photos) more than 115 cubic yards of thorium-contaminated soil.

Chicago residents, especially those living in or near Streeterville, may be interested in planned City of Chicago improvement project called the Navy Pier Flyover. The flyover will be an elevated trail for pedestrians, runners, cyclists and in-line skaters and is designed to relieve bottlenecks in what the city calls the Lakefront Trail. A small part of the elevated portion of the trail will pass over DuSable Park and be supported by several columns that will be placed in the park near Lake Shore Drive. Links to the City of Chicago page describing the project and to a comprehensive and interesting slideshow detailing the design of the project are provided below.

 

Project at 455 North Park Drive

Site preparation work is underway to prepare this location for the construction of a hotel and high-rise residential complex. Prior testing has determined that there is thorium contaminated soil present in some sub-surface areas of the site. The project’s owner has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to discover and remove, with EPA oversight, the thorium-contaminated soil from this site wherever it is discovered. Contractors use special instruments to constantly scan the soil and other materials during excavation. When thorium-contaminated material is discovered, it is immediately secured, covered and packaged for removal to a hazardous waste facility.

Project at 515 N. Peshtigo Court


A 45-floor residential tower is now being built on this site. More than 160 cubic yards of sub-surface material contaminated with thorium were removed from this site before construction began. There is believed to be some thorium-contaminated material remaining. However, since only above ground construction is planned for the rest of 2012, the remaining contamination will be addressed next year.

Fact Sheets

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Technical Documents

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Legal Agreements

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Right of Way Thorium Survey Reports

EPA has agreed to host a web-based repository of radiation testing reports and other technical documents for the benefit of those conducting work within the rights-of way. These reports allow private utilities companies and city departments to easily check to see if an area has already been tested and determined to be clear of contamination, or if the area has never been investigated and still needs to be tested.

See this map on a separate page

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