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TM <br /> Paga> <br /> '01 7 ,• <br /> ard in <br /> �� .• 1! <br /> By Scott Howard At the start of cleanup,lead <br /> Sari JonQM euRFau the yard ranged from no <br /> TRACY — , Lead-contaminated to up to 2,800 parts per ` <br /> soil left from decades ofHowever, there are no <br /> is now being removed fromm the posted in the cleanup area; g c <br /> Southern Pacific-'Lines .railY of any•potential danger from 1 <br /> south of Down exposure. <br /> For three w�eelis,"'an envie a,`_< Fuuttiey said about 20'con <br /> mental cleanup,crq_has.be } jg.".. Hated areas,have been ' <br /> ging out several large plots of far. By project's end in late . <br /> tainted soil at the old,rail yard be- Sacrarnento-based InULA <br /> tween MacArthur Drive and Central pliance expects to remov l <br /> Avenue. 1,500 cubic yards of coil <br /> The cleanup project•is most no- soil. <br /> ticeable from Sixth Street, wheret ... <br /> bright yellow "caution" tape cor- Lead'source a Ptrada �i k <br /> dons off a dozef-shallow excavated How the lead got there rne. <br /> pits in and around an area that once what of a puzzle for SP.Agi ° - <br /> bustled with rail activity: dicate the Iead did not c' <br /> The contaminated soil is being old paint or petroleum; <br /> stockpiled on SP property just west said. x s:: i r <br /> of :MacArthur Drive alongthe rail= "4a' <br /> However, industrial weld(itg n- <br /> road. railroad equipment and rails them- <br /> Joel Weiss, envtronmentak;geolo- selves were commonly done lir that. <br /> gist for the Regional Water Quality area and could have been. source, - '- <br /> Control Board, said the lead-laden Furtney said. <br /> soil will eventually be loaded,on rail ' <br /> cars and shipped to a hazardous The old Tracy rail yard peened in <br /> waste dump in Utah- t..; the late 1870s. But it wari 1runtil ; <br /> When asked how toxic the soil is, 1910 that it became a full:� d <br /> Weiss said: "I'm not a toxicologist train facility, When.Tracy t1bumq a s <br /> but I guess it's toxic enough for it to main division point for SPI> epi <br /> tions. ` <br /> have to be removed." Palley opera • . • <br /> Long-term exposure ttt.i high At the rail yard, engine#,Vere t <br /> levels of lead has been known to fueled and serviced around die <br /> cause brain damage and other se- clock.At the peak of Tracy's-SP mail <br /> nous harm to humans. operations in the earl�;;;;.1950s, i <br /> nearly 1,000 people worked at they <br /> Poatential health hazard:_, yard. _. <br /> The potential health hazard to Today, rail traffic is'm in <br /> residents living in homes and apart- the downtown area, mainly.sdiving <br /> ments next to the rail yw"uncer- as a sidetrack serving H.L,Bell, <br /> twin. ;" Holly Sugar and Leprino Fb4&A J . <br /> Lbcal or state health'.;officials But the drop in rail a> gas, <br /> could not be reached foi'comment allowed SP to begin clean r ►e �! <br /> on lead levels late Tuesdays contamination left over, *iki gears <br /> SP spokesman Mike Ftutney said past. Since 1993, the 171116M &S <br /> the aim of the cleanup project is to been cleaning, up dieseNco <br /> bring lead levels in the area down to hated soil on its property-LoestbA <br /> an average of 220 parte per_milhon.___ Ur _ <br />