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News Releases from Region 05

Hazardous Waste Cleanup Continues at the Bautsch Gray Mine Superfund Site in Galena, Illinois

07/30/2018
Contact Information: 
Rachel Bassler (bassler.rachel@epa.gov)
312-886-7159

For Immediate Release: No. 18-OPA039

CHICAGO (July 30, 2018) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues hazardous waste cleanup at the Bautsch Gray Mine Superfund site, a former lead and zinc mine located 4 miles south of Galena, Ill., on Blackjack Road. U.S. EPA anticipates the work will take three weeks.

Since the Bautsch-Gray Mine closed in 1975, mine tailings have continued to erode and move toward Blackjack Road, residential properties, wetlands and fisheries. Erosion of these materials contaminated soil, groundwater and surface water. U.S. EPA began working at the site in 2010.

This summer the federal agency will focus on maintenance of the retention ponds. In 2012, U.S. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List, a list of the most contaminated sites in the country.

To learn more about this site, visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/bautsch-gray-mine.

Superfund Task Force. In May 2017 EPA established a task force to restore the Superfund program to its rightful place at the center of the Agency's core mission to protect health and the environment. epa.gov/superfund/superfund-task-force.