Atty. Robert Peachey (l-r), Atty. Tracey Coleman, Supt. Cheryl Pruitt, Bethune principal Karen Ramsey, Kendall Moore, and Roger Malone

Gary schools lean on EPA

Contributed By:The 411 News

One of the often repeated assumptions for the dismal finances of the Gary public school system is the district took too long to close schools as its student populations dropped year after year.

Attorney Tracey Coleman, a member of the Robert L. Lewis & Associates law firm that represents the school district, says even if the district had closed schools, it still would not have escaped the calamities it faces today.

Her focus at the recent Board of School Trustees meeting held at the Bethune Childhood Development Center was the open schools that the district does not have the monies to maintain.

Coleman introduced officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5 headquarters in Chicago who are working on maintenance projects for several Gary schools. “They are here because of the concept of environmental justice,” she said.

Kendall Moore, from EPA’s Pesticides and Toxics Compliance Section, said the new, energy-efficient lighting at Bethune resulted from a July 2016 consent decree between his agency and Heritage-Crystal Clean, an environmental services company that illegally handled and disposed of used motor oils containing PCBs.

PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) are chemicals that came into wide use in the 1940's and were used extensively in the manufacture of transformers and capacitors in fluorescent light ballasts throughout the late 1970's. In 1979, their manufacture and importation was outlawed in the United States after research showed the chemicals were unsafe for plants, animals, and humans.

Crystal Clean’s penalty for that violation was to pay $400,000 to remove possible PCB-laden lighting fixtures in schools in Region 5 and replace them with new, energy-efficient lighting. Bailly and Beveridge Elementary schools will also get new lighting.

Moore told of another $500,000 settlement with U.S. Steel for new lighting that will go to West Side Leadership Academy. Those funds come from actions taken by the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management.

Moore said U.S. Steel also offered to pay for needed roof repairs at West Side before the new lighting can be installed.

Roger Malone, the district’s engineering consultant said the roof repairs will start in a few weeks. Malone told the board talks began with the EPA in November 2016. “The EPA has reviewed all of the buildings in Gary and is putting together a report to submit to you on some of the other items that need to be corrected and maintained that concern the school district.”

“U.S. Steel was under no obligation to enter into the agreement, signed in March 2017, for the lighting and roof repair at West Side. The work is expected to be completed in March 2019 unless the parties decide to extend the project,” said Atty. Robert Peachey, EPA’s Region 5 General Counsel.

“There are other opportunities for environmental justice; for corporations to help communities like Gary, who are hurting,” Atty. Coleman said.

Story Posted:10/20/2017