The Environmental Protection Agency has started demolishing a building in Dallas the city says was one of the "most contaminated sites in the country." The Lane Plating Superfund Site covers five acres on Bonnie View Road south of Loop 12.
The factory closed in 2015 after more than 90 years as a plating facility. EPA says it found five "contaminants of concern": chromium, hexavalent chromium, arsenic, mercury and lead.
EPA says it has already removed 188,000 pounds of waste material.
"This community deserves this demolition," says Dallas City Councilman Tennell Atkins. "It's a process. It's a start. We started today."
EPA says demolition of the building will take five weeks. The agency will then start removing 11,000 tons of contaminated soil.
"That's a lot. It's the most I've ever done in my career," says EPA Coordinator Eric Delgado.
"We celebrate the next step in transforming this blighted property into something that's clean, safe and productive," says Regional Administrator Earthea Nance.
Nance says EPA will continue monitoring air and soil for contamination during demolition.
"Those people who live across the street in Arden Terrace will determine what the reuse of this site will be," says Allen McGill, chairman of the Lane Plating Community Advisory Group.
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