
				Pat Quinn, Governor

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Environmental Progress - Fall 2003

LaSalle Site Named to National Priorities List

LaSalle smelter operated at site for nearly 120 years

The U.S.EPA has added a portion of Mattheissen and Hegeler, a 160-acre site on the east side of LaSalle, to the National Priorities List (NPL), also known as Superfund. Mattheissen and Hegeler was a zinc smelting and rolling facility that operated in LaSalle from about 1858 to 1978. The portion of the property named to the NPL consists of two slag waste disposal areas totaling about 22 acres. A remedial investigation, which is the next step of the process, may result in additional acreage being included.

The slag waste pile contains metals such as cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, nickel and zinc. Runoff from the piles washes directly into the Little Vermilion River, the site's eastern boundary; sediment samples from the river bottom indicate elevated levels of the same metals.

In 1993, the Illinois EPA collected soil and sediment samples from the site and the river. Zinc, cadmium, lead and other metals were found to be significantly elevated. Placement on the site on the NPL provides resources to conduct more extensive research into the site and potentially impacted off-site areas, as well as to develop a comprehensive cleanup plan.

A chain-link fence encloses the property. The southern portion of the property, which is not part of the NPL site, contains an active specialty chemicals firm.