Demolition began Thursday at the notorious Lane Plating site on Bonnie View Road, five miles south of downtown Dallas.
A crowd of neighbors, city and federal officials were there to celebrate.
The old factory is surrounded by a park, a creek and the Arden Terrace neighborhood across Bonnie View Road.
A website offers daily updates about progress and air monitoring data.
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Past generations were unaware of the exact danger spreading from inside the factory but people suspected trouble, said Gloria Barnes, president of the Arden Terrace Neighborhood Association.
“We had so many deaths in our neighborhood, and she said ‘something has to be wrong.’ She kept saying that over and over again. So, we don't know how it has affected us,” Barnes said. “We went fishing back there. There were the biggest turtles back there. So, we didn't know.”
It turned out that the place used toxic chemicals for more than 90 years in metal plating before violations, investigations and bankruptcy closed it in 2015.
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The Environmental Protection Agency added it to the Superfund remediation list in 2018.
Break-ins that exposed trespassers to the dangers and new EPA leadership helped speed Thursday’s action according to Allen McGill, the leader of a Lane Plating community advisory committee.
“I understand from some of our partners around the country, that really this project has been on a fast track,” McGill said. “it’s important that we recognize and support that kind of leadership. It has allowed the voices from Arden Terrace and stakeholders to have some influence in the decisions about what is going to happen at this site.”
Demolition of the building is just the start of the clean-up process. Next, 11,000 tons of tainted soil will be removed from the immediate site and beneath the building.
“The primary and most contaminated soil is within the processing area where the extent of the removal effort is taking place,” EPA site coordinator Eric Delgado said.
Additional remediation of tainted groundwater in an adjacent portion of the 4-acre site requires additional study.
“This is a groundwater layer that is approximately 15 feet below ground level and nobody uses that water,” Delgado said.
Neighborhood Dallas City Council member Tennell Atkins, who has been involved in the Lane Plating fight for years, said fears of tainted city drinking water are unfounded.
“We had to turn around and educate and inform our community,” Atkins said. “This community deserves this demolition. It’s a process. It’s a start. We’re starting today.”
Air monitor results will be posted online daily to help boost neighbor confidence about the work.
Gloria Barnes said she is pleased to see the progress but watchful about safety of the clean-up work.
“You really don't have a choice, either. You've got to trust them and hope they're going to do the right thing from now on,” she said.
Building demolition should be complete by February, then soil removal could last through the summer.
