Living with Lead: Public Housing on a Superfund Site

In East Chicago, Indiana, authorities built a public housing
project on land once occupied by a lead smelting operation. The
area has been declared a Superfund site, and residents of the
housing project, but not the surrounding area, have been moved.
After we produced this episode of our podcast, the housing
project was torn down.


 



Nevertheless, in the summer of 2018, revelations have continued
about inaccurate and misleading information provided to
community residents by officials, who hid the health impact of
the buried lead in their neighborhood.

 


(photo: Calumet Lives Matter president Sherry Hunter,
left, sports her group's signature shirt at the independent
Community Strategy Group's Calumet Day table with Rev. Cheryl
Rivera. Photo credit: Annie Ropeik for Indiana Public
Broadcasting Stations.)

 


Annie Ropeik and Nick Janzen followed this story for two
years when they worked together at Indiana Public
Broadcasting, and were part of a team that won several
awards for its coverage.


 


Here's the first episode of Living Downstream: the
Environmental Justice Podcast. Subscribe on iTunes, or
wherever you get your podcasts (coming soon!) 



 


 


Read more about lead contamination and Superfund
sites. 


 


Read more about Annie Ropeik and Nick Janzen.

 


Read a 2011 report (PDF) from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services about the lead smelting
operation in East Chicago and the contamination left
behind.

 




Below: watch a discussion between East Calumet resident
Akeeshea Daniels and reporter Annie Ropeik from the
project "Blood Lead and Soil: A Year in East Chicago"
produced by Indiana Public Broadcasting.


 






Click the icon below to listen.