The EPA Doesn’t Typically Retest Homes in the Country’s Largest Residential Lead Superfund Site. So We Did. by Cassandra Garibay, ProPublica, and Chris Bowling, Leah Keinama, and Destiny Herbers, Flatwater Free Press Co-published with Flatwater Free Press

The EPA Doesn’t Typically Retest Homes in the Country’s Largest Residential Lead Superfund Site. So We Did. The Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica independently tested hundreds of homes in eastern Omaha, Nebraska, and found toxic levels of lead in soil throughout — including in yards that the EPA remediated years ago. Here’s how we did it. https://www.propublica.org/article/omaha-nebraska-lead-testing-superfund-methodology?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary by Cassandra Garibay, ProPublica, and Chris Bowling, Leah Keinama, and Destiny Herbers, Flatwater Free Press Co-published with Flatwater Free Press Decades after the last plume of lead-laced smoke rose from a smelting plant in Omaha, Nebraska, the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica found lead in concentrations that pose a threat to people’s health in soil throughout east Omaha. Over the last two years, the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica tested over 600 independent soil samples from homes in and around Omaha’s Superfund site. We found that some homes that had been remediated by the EPA still had high levels of lead. Throughout our reporting, we spoke to nine experts in environmental and lead contamination to make sense of our findings. Several said the EPA should do more testing and possibly cleanup in Omaha. We asked the EPA about our findings. The agency said it will work with the city of Omaha to “investigate the outcomes you have noted” and work with the city and property owners to take corrective action if needed in accordance with 2009 cleanup guidelines. https://flatwaterfreepress.org/