Louisville Hazardous Waste Site Still Leaking Pollution Into Ohio River

One of the oldest federally-recognized hazardous waste sites is right here in Louisville. And more than 20 years after the government declared it was no longer a top priority, the site is still contaminating groundwater flowing into the Ohio River, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.Lees Lane Landfill began its long, sordid life as a sand and gravel quarry in southwest Louisville. Somewhere around 1948, owners got the idea to fill that big, gaping hole with other people’s trash and industrial waste — about 200,000 tons worth.Today, the garbage pile is leaching arsenic and lead into the Ohio River, according to the EPA’s latest review.A lot has been done to clean up the site.  Back in the 1970’s, methane and other toxic landfill gases seeped into nearby homes in Riverside Gardens, causing flash fires, cancer-causing chromium polluted groundwater and roughly 400 drums lay scattered around the banks of the Ohio River, among other problems.