Carson will be briefed on efforts to assist families displaced after the East Chicago Housing Authority ordered them to relocate last summer because of lead and arsenic contamination at the West Calumet Housing Complex. The complex is in the first of three residential cleanup zones in the Superfund site, which includes East Chicago's West Calumet, Calumet and East Calumet neighborhoods.

Contamination levels were greatest within the public housing complex, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data show. The complex was built in the footprint of the former Anaconda lead smelter, likely without any remediation, in the early 1970s.

ECHA applied to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in July 2016 to demolish the complex and submitted a plan Sept. 2 to HUD to relocate residents. A written relocation plan is typically required before a housing authority applies for demolition.

The last of the complex's more than 1,000 residents — who comprised more than 300 families — moved out in June. According to HUD, 62 families remained in East Chicago, 46 transferred to the Gary Housing Authority, 40 went to the Hammond Housing Authority, 25 moved to Chicago public housing, 70 found public housing in Cook County and 46 went to "other areas."

In addition to Carson and Donnelly, U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, Holcomb and East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland will attend the meeting.

Residents have list of concerns

Thomas Frank, a member of the Community Strategy Group, said at least six residents have been selected to participate in the meeting and will address a number of issues.

Residents are concerned about how former West Calumet residents have been disbursed, he said. The group will ask whether residents who received temporary vouchers and moved to locations with high crime rates or other types of environmental contamination will receive another voucher to move to a safer home.

Group members want to know if community development block grant money could be used to help displaced residents. They also want an assurance that if new residences are built at the West Calumet property, displaced residents will be given an opportunity to return before new residents are accepted.  

Residents plan to ask about what can be done for people who lived at the West Calumet Housing Complex over the years. The group still wants a program, for instance, like one offered in Libby, Montana, that extended Medicaid to all residents — both past and present — for life, Frank said.

Donnelly, Young and Visclosky wrote a letter last month to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asking that HHS work with East Chicago to identify opportunities to improve treatment, prevention and education programs. The congressmen also asked HHS to detail its ability to provide long-term health monitoring and treatment for affected residents and former residents.

PCB disposal permit still an issue

Young's office helped coordinate a visit in April by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who recently announced his agency would create a Top 10 list of Superfund sites.

The list has not yet been announced, but Pruitt talked about East Chicago during a press conference last month announcing recommendations by his Superfund Task Force, The Washington Post reported. Albert Kelly, an advisor to Pruitt and chairman of the task force, personally attended EPA's last two monthly meetings for the USS Lead site and a community meeting regarding a proposed permit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps is seeking to dispose of dredged sediment from the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal that contains higher levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, than previously allowed.

Frank said residents also will ask Donnelly and Young to sign a letter asking EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to reject the permit for the corps. Visclosky has declined to sign such a letter, but vowed to continue to bring concerns about the permit to EPA and IDEM's attention.

EPA said Friday a decision on the risk-based PCB disposal permit could come within weeks.

The Superfund site and dredging of the ship canal are not related, but residents have raised concerns that they could face cumulative health risks because of multiple exposures to toxic substances. They're especially concerned that children exposed to contaminants at the Superfund site were moved to a school located near the confined disposal facility where toxic sediments are being stored.