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Carnotite Reduction Company

Site Information
Contact Information

Community Involvement Coordinator
Teresa Jones (jones.teresa@epa.gov)
312-886-0725 or 800-621-8431, ext. 60725

On-Scene Coordinator
Verneta Simon
(simon.verneta@epa.gov)
312-886-3601 or 800-621-8431, ext.6301

Senior Health Physicist
Gene Jablonowski
(jablonowski.eugene@epa.gov)
312-886-4591 or 800-621-8431, ext. 64591

Office of Regional Counsel
Attorneys
Mary Fulghum
(fulghum.mary@epa.gov) 312-886-4683 or 800-621-8431, ext. 64683
Cathleen Martwick
(martwick.cathleen@epa.gov)
312-886-7166 or 800-621-8431, ext. 67166

Repositories

(where to view written records)

Harold Washington Library Center
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State St.
Chicago, IL

EPA Superfund Home Page
Region 5 Superfund
Superfund Frequent Questions

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

Background

Carnotite and Lindsay Light

Lindsay Light Co. sites

If you're interested in the Carnotite Reduction Company site, you may be interested to know that EPA has been successfully overseeing the removal of soil that is contaminated with radioactive material in downtown Chicago for more than a decade. This contamination was caused many years ago by the Lindsay Light Company and widely spread throughout the Streeterville neighborhood.

There is another minor connection: at different times in the early years of the 20th century, a man named Herbert N. McCoy was president of both companies. Both processed radioactive ore, but for different reasons.

From about 1915 to at least 1920, the Carnotite Reduction Company operated an elemental radium separation and refining facility in Chicago at 2600 S. Iglehart Place, a street that no longer exists. It is believed Iglehart Place was near what is now Ellis Ave.

This property later became part of the land occupied by the former Michael Reese Hospital. In 1979, the State of Illinois Department of Health, Division of Radiological Health, in cooperation with U.S. EPA, conducted a radiological surface survey of part of the Michael Reese property and located several areas of elevated radioactivity. State personnel concluded that the contamination did not pose an immediate health hazard but should be taken into consideration prior to any future construction.

In September 2008, the owner of Michael Reese filed a petition for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In anticipation of Chicago being selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games, the City of Chicago purchased the 37- acre former Michael Reese property in June 2009. The City planned to develop the property as the site of the Olympic Village. The City's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, however, proved unsuccessful.

Site Updates | Latest Update | Technical Documents

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Site Updates

June 2012

On December 10, 2009, U.S. EPA performed a gamma survey of areas of the Carnotite site not previously assessed. U.S. EPA's survey confirmed the presence of radioactive contamination in the northern end of the former Michael Reese Hospital Campus, where the Carnotite Reduction Company was located although the exact property boundaries of the former Carnotite Reduction Company have not been established. Since then, the City of Chicago's contractors have surveyed the Michael Reese property areas in conjunction with the demolition of the former hospital's buildings and removed contaminated soil discovered on the site.

In June 2012, EPA conducted testing of public parkways, park lands, and at several private properties nearby and is currently analyzing the results. 

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