The above map depicts Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club (right), across the street from the Carter Carburetor Superfund site, a former gasoline and diesel carburetor manufacturing plant which closed in 1984.
The Environmental Protection Agency is a step closer to cleaning up a contaminated industrial property on the city's north side.
In a memorandum signed today, the EPA spells out the steps it will take to clean up the Carter Carburetor Superfund site.
That includes removing PCBs and another industrial contaminant - TCE - from soils and demolishing contaminated buildings.
EPA spokesperson Chris Whitley says the agency will also be taking soil and air samples at adjacent properties starting in early May.
"And this will be to determine if there has been migration of contaminants from the site to those properties and if so, does contamination exist at levels of concern," Whitley said.
The EPA will answer questions about the offsite sampling at a public meeting at the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club from 7:00 to 9:00 pm on April 12.
Congressman Lacy Clay is calling the EPA's progress toward cleaning up the Carter Carburetor site a victory for the North City neighborhood that surrounds it.
"This clean-up is my number one environmental priority in the city of St. Louis because so many children are at risk across the street at the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club," Clay said.
Clay says neighborhood residents deserve a clean, safe environment.
"And I am especially pleased that after years of delay, the responsible parties will foot the entire bill, and not the taxpayers," Clay said.
Those parties include the former owner of the carburetor plant, ACF Industries. The cleanup is expected to cost at least $27 million.
Updated with comments from Clay at 5:49 p.m. March 30, 2011.