Pueblo, EPA reach agreement on testing city property

The Environmental Protection Agency now has permission to start testing city property on a Superfund site.

The city of Pueblo and the EPA reached an agreement on how the EPA will sample city property. The agreement gives the EPA permission to enter Benedict Park and the city’s streets, alleys and rights of way.

The agreement stipulates that soil samples remain within one inch in diameter and cannot be dug deeper than a foot and a half.

The city is asking the EPA for at least five business days’ advance notice to enter city property. The agreement states that the “City may, but is not required to, have an authorized representative of the City observe the EPA’s activities on the property…”

City Council President Steve Nawrocki said the city is taking a cautious approach but said it was only right to get city property tested when property owners are already getting their land sampled.

“I think we’re a little guarded because historically we’ve seen other communities that have been at odds with the federal government for many, many years,” Nawrocki said.

The city told the EPA it expects all soil sampling on city property to be done by Jan. 31, 2016.