EPA to begin sampling property on Superfund site

The EPA will begin sampling homes within the Colorado Superfund site late this spring into the summer.

Sabrina Forrest, a site assessment manager with the EPA, addressed about 25 people at the St. Mary’s Help of Christians Church classroom in Pueblo Tuesday morning.

Forrest said EPA officials will be knocking on doors Wednesday, to ask renters if they will consent to having their properties tested for elevated levels of lead and arsenic.

The EPA added the Colorado Smelter site to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites Dec. 11, 2014.

Since last year, Forrest said 2,600 letters have been sent to neighbors in 1,900 properties within the site. Forrest said many of the homes within the Superfund site are rented. Of those letters, the EPA has received consent to sample 500 properties.

The majority of the homes in the Superfund site are in the Bessemer neighborhood, on the south side of Pueblo.