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During the week of November 2nd, EPA will begin setting up
office trailers and other support essentials ahead of conducting excavation
work at the Stout Battery Corporation Site. Depending on the weather, EPA
contractors may also be able to construct a staging area for excavated soil as
well as a road for hauling contaminated soil off-site. Removal work is expected to begin the week of November 9th.
EPA will excavate and remove soil from the former Stout Storage Battery
Corp. Site, which will include small parts of bordering residential properties where
very high levels of lead were identified.
EPA will excavate and remove soils two
feet below the ground surface where elevated lead is identified at the site and at nearby residential properties. Crews will monitor air during excavation
to ensure no lead dust leaves the site.
EPA will backfill the excavated sites with clean soil, and will restore landscaping on the residential
properties.
Soil with concentrations of lead that are leachable, or which can migrate offsite, will be treated with a binding agent prior to
transportation and disposal at an EPA approved facility.
EPA will also conduct a drinking water well survey and collect water
samples from nearby residential drinking water wells. If required, EPA will
install point of entry or point of use treatment systems if lead in drinking
water exceeds EPA’s risk-based guidelines.
After EPA has completed its cleanup, Indiana Brownfields Program’s
subcontractor will conduct additional soil removal. IBP will also line
and cap the pond. After excavation work is completed, IBP subcontractors will
backfill and grade the site with clean soil.
Background
The former Stout Storage Battery Corp. site
includes a little over 3.2 acres of undeveloped land with a small, wooded area
along southern boundary. There are bordering residential properties immediately
to the east, south, and west of the site.
From 1968
through 1984, the former Stout Storage Battery Corporation manufactured
automotive lead-acid batteries on the site. Stout charged lead-acid batteries
in a sulfuric acid bath and rinsed the batteries with water. Stout then discharged
its lead-contaminated rinse water into an unlicensed and unlined primary
impoundment in the ground near the southeastern boundary of the site. When the
primary impoundment reached capacity, it overflowed into an unlicensed and
unlined secondary impoundment to the west.
In 1989 and
1997, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management conducted
investigations and cleanup at the site which included removing
lead-contaminated soil from the site and at the nearby residential
neighborhood. In 1997, IDEM removed more soil, along with numerous drums and
other hazardous materials from the site. IDEM also demolished the
lead-contaminated buildings and disposed of approximately 1,380 cubic yards of
demolition debris.
In November
2023, the Indiana Brownfields Program collected soil samples as part of a
redevelopment assessment and found elevated levels of lead in the soil at the
site. After confirming unsafe levels of lead contamination, the state referred
the site to EPA for further assessment and cleanup.
In summer
2025, EPA tested the soil at nine bordering residential properties and
confirmed the presence of lead contamination.
