EPA Cuts Lead Cleanup Level at ASARCO Site; Contractor Award Expected by Year’s End

Montgomery County Board | September 8, 2026

Article Summary: The Illinois EPA has more than halved the lead cleanup standard for residential areas at the ASARCO Taylor Springs Superfund site, from 400 to 170 milligrams per kilogram, and expects to award its on-site contractor by the end of the calendar year, according to the economic development report delivered to Montgomery County’s Development & Personnel Committee and summarized for the county board Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.

ASARCO Cleanup Key Points:

• The residential lead cleanup level drops from 400 mg/kg to 170 mg/kg, per IL EPA.
• IL EPA “plan[s] to award the on-site contractor by the end of the calendar year,” with on-site work hoped to begin in spring 2027.
• The lakes remain the first target for on-site work but have not been started.
• Design of the cell, or cap, is being revised after new study results on its location.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — The cleanup schedule at the ASARCO Taylor Springs Superfund site slipped again and tightened at the same time, according to the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation report delivered to the county’s Development & Personnel Committee on Aug. 31 and summarized for the full board on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.

MCEDC Executive Director Kaitlyn Fath lists the site first among her priorities, describing the work as a partnership with the Village of Taylor Springs “on the remediation and redevelopment of the ASARCO Taylor Springs Superfund Site.”

A Lower Number for Lead

Fath reports speaking with Nicole Wilson of the Illinois EPA, and writes that residential cleanup “should resume when contractors are ready.” The agency had been waiting for the “Explanation for Significant Difference” to be updated for residential lead cleanup levels.

“Per Nicole, the lead number was 400 mg/kg ppm and will now be 170 mg/kg ppm,” the report states, glossing the units as milligrams per kilogram, or parts per million. The report links to federal guidance on hazard standards and clearance levels for lead in paint, dust and soil under Sections 402 and 403 of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

A lower clearance level means more soil qualifies as contaminated, which bears directly on how many Taylor Springs properties fall inside the cleanup. The report does not say how many properties are affected or whether any previously cleared property would now fail.

Lakes Still First, Still Not Started

Fath’s previous update had reported that IL EPA intended to start on the lakes before residential cleanup “to get ahead and start letting the lakes dry out.” This month: “they have not started on the lakes yet, but it remains their first target for on-site work.”

The report puts the contractor award “by the end of the calendar year, with hopes of starting on-site work in spring 2027,” and states that the agency “recently received results and data on where the cell (cap) will be located and are revising the design to accommodate the study results.”

Committee Chairman Chad Ruppert told the board Fath “reported the contract for clean-up work at Asarco should be awarded by the end of the year.” Development & Personnel’s Aug. 31 minutes record the same.

What Comes After

The county’s longstanding interest in the site is redevelopment, not only remediation — a point underlined elsewhere in the same report, which notes that the City of Hillsboro “took ownership after cleanup was completed” at the former Eagle Zinc site and has since won $891,742 toward utility and roadway work there.

No comparable figure or timeline exists for Taylor Springs. The report sets out no reuse plan, no acreage and no post-cleanup schedule for the ASARCO property, and the board took no action on the item.