Dutch Boy/International Harvestor Sites, Chicago, IL

These are two contiguous sites located in West Pullman area of Chicago:

Dutch Boy, led by the United States-Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) under an enforcement action, is a 5-acre parcel formerly owned by NL Industries and used for production of lead and lead paint. The International Harvester (IH) site, also known as the Former West Pullman Works site, was enrolled into the Illinois EPA's Voluntary Cleanup Program by Navistar. IH is a 21-acre area formerly owned by Navistar for the production of machine tools and is now owned by Better Living Foundation (associated with Christ Universal Temple).

The main environmental issues from EPA's point of view are lead contamination at the Dutch Boy site and PAHs and asbestos contamination at the IH site. Both sites contain underground storage tanks. Removal site assessments were conducted on both sites in 1993. In 1995, the Greater Chicago Team Manager contacted the Committee for Economic Recovery, a community group in the West Pullman area, which led to renewed attention with respect to both sites. At the community's request, additional soil sampling was completed in August 1995. The final sampling and analysis plan (SAP) for the Dutch Boy site was approved by US EPA in November 1996. The draft SAP was made available to the community for public comment. Sampling has been conducted at the Dutch Boy site. The draft Extent of Contamination (EOC) report including the results from the sampling was submitted to the community for public comments.

TOSC was contacted by the Maple Park/Victory Heights Advisory Council to address questions about the extent of contamination at the sites, particularly lead contamination at the Dutch Boy site. Over the period July 1996 to December 1997, TOSC held workshops for the community and reviewed a series of documents related to Dutch Boy.

For more detail on TOSC's work:
Click here for Analysis of Site Investigation Activities.
Click here for Analysis of ATSDR's Public Health Assessment West Pullman Iron and Metal, Chicago, IL
Click here to obtain a list of documents reviewed by TOSC.