"Lead Producer to Pay $7M Fine, Spend $65M on Cleanups"

"St. Louis-based Doe Run Resources Corp., the nation's largest lead producer, will pay a $7 million civil penalty and spend about $65 million more to resolve alleged violations of federal pollution laws at the company's facilities in Missouri, U.S. EPA and the Justice Department announced Friday.

The settlement, which was filed in federal court in St. Louis, will require the company to commit an estimated $28 million to $33 million for cleanup in Herculaneum, Mo., and other areas affected by 10 of the company's lead mining, milling and smelting facilities. By the end of 2013, Doe Run plans to shut down its Herculaneum lead smelter, which releases 30 tons of lead into the air each year.

The town, as with much of the area around St. Louis, continues to fall short of federal standards for lead pollution in the air. Along with the settlement, EPA has also proposed an order that would require Doe Run to take soil samples at homes within 1.5 miles of the smelter and clean up any properties with a certain level of lead contamination."

Gabriel Nelson reports for Greenwire October 11, 2010.