The head of the Environmental Protection Agency was in Robertsdale on April 19. Scott Pruitt visited the old Federated Metals site, located on the southern end of George Lake. Federated Metals operated a metal smelting and refining facility there from 1937 through 1983. Efforts to clean up the hazardous wastes at the site date back to at least 1985. The Times has the story of the EPA Administrator’s recent visit.
Read the full story at the NWI Times here.
The building on the left in this 1940’s postcard was the office for Federated Metals. It still stands near the northwest corner of Indianapolis Boulevard and New York Avenue. Note the trees to the upper left behind the plant. The image for the postcard was created before Standard Oil constructed laboratory buildings and offices where those trees are pictured. Some of those buildings eventually became home to Calumet College. The railroad tracks shown running in the foreground were later dismantled and replaced by the bicycle/walking trail which now runs past the plant. The plant is still in operation, under the name Whiting Metals.