Ludlow seeks $200K grant for Elm Street cleanup

A public meeting to explore potential uses for a Ludlow brownfield site will be held this evening at 6 P.M. at the Ludlow Municipal Center, located at 51 Elm Street.

The city is seeking a $200,000 Brownfields Hazardous Substances Cleanup grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for remediation activities at the former Barker Fine Colors building at 38 Elm Street. The grant funding also would be used to conduct public outreach and to certify cleanup through the Kentucky Voluntary Environmental Remediation Program.

Attendees will be able to review and comment on the draft application.

Barker Fine Colors manufactured pigments at the Elm Street warehouse until 2004, when the plant was closed due to frequent chemical leaks and noise.

The warehouse is part of a larger site on which the M.J. Daly Company operated a specialty chemical manufacturing business from the 1950s to the 1980s.

A 2005 EPA removal location evaluation revealed that the M.J. Daly operation involved the mixing and packaging of organic chemicals that included aromatic solvents, acetates, alcohols, and ketones.