By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FAIRFIELD TWP. - More soil testing for hazardous lead will be done at Brentwood Estates subdivision, with the site being turned over to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.

The Ohio EPA on Tuesday referred the Butler County neighborhood to the U.S. EPA, which could use Superfund money to clean up lead found around five homes last month, said Scott Glum, site coordinator for Ohio EPA's southwestern district office in Dayton.

"We will need to do some more testing to determine the extent of the contamination," said Rafael Gonzalez, spokesman for the U.S. EPA's Chicago regional office.

Hazardous lead levels were found at depths of 3 to 6 inches at four homes on Mindy Drive and one on Elenor Drive built in the late 1970s on an old skeet-shooting range off Millikin Road, Glum said. They are a mile west of lead-contaminated Lexington Manor.

Nine "hot spots" were found in 130 samples, ranging from 558 to 44,400 parts per million. The government standard for residential property is 400 parts per million.

More contamination could be detected when the state completes analyzing samples taken last month from the top 3 inches, and 6-to-12-inch depths. Results are expected by the end of June, Glum said.

When the state report is completed, the U.S. EPA will contact homeowners - no sooner than July - about additional testing on a tighter grid to pinpoint tainted areas. The state samples were taken 30 to 40 feet apart, Glum said.

When the federal test results are in, probably in late summer, the U.S. EPA will meet with residents, Gonzalez said.

Glum said federal officials were asked to do a "removal action evaluation" because the state doesn't have any clean-up funds.

Homeowners won't be forced to remove the lead, Glum said. But if they don't excavate it, they will have to alert potential buyers, they said.

Paula Ellis, whose family bought one of the five contaminated properties Monday, said she was fully informed about the lead by seller Mike Holderman.

"We were told if there was a problem, there would be funds available to clean it up," Ellis said.

The U.S. EPA also will contact the four homeowners who refused state tests in May, Gonzalez said.

One long-time Mindy Drive resident, Joanne Wise, still was not interested in soil tests, even though lead was found across the street.

"We won't submit to it," she said. "I've raised kids here. I've raised animals here. We have a medical history, but it's not caused by the lead."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com