GRANITE CITY SOIL REMOVAL HALTED PENDING HEARING

BENTON, Ill. -- Federal regulators have agreed to halt the removal of lead-contaminated topsoil from a 55-block area in Granite City pending a hearing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is directing the soil scraping because of elevated lead levels in the blood of 16 percent of the area's children. The project is part of a $30 million Superfund cleanup of the area.

But a more recent state study blamed the elevated lead levels on lead paint dust found inside and outside 60- to 80-year-old homes in the cleanup area.

Soil in the area was contaminated by lead particles released from smokestacks during 80 years of smelting at the former NL Industries plant. City leaders want the EPA to remove or permanently cap a 250,000-ton pile of lead slag near the plant site and reconsider the topsoil removal.

A federal judge Tuesday approved an agreement between the city and the EPA stopping the scraping until a hearing Sept. 20.